SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 487 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $916,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 6,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GS Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.65.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock traded up $0.73 during trading on Friday, hitting $227.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,068,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,130. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $224.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.54. The firm has a market cap of $65.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.