Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Sells 23,594 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 32.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 23,594 shares during the period. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $261,000. Cambridge Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 96,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,142,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its stake in Ecolab by 125.8% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,762,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth $796,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded down $1.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $218.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,586,604 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,014,656. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $223.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $199.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The company has a market capitalization of $62.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.55, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.