Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Natixis Advisors L.P.

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 13.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 146,098 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 17,476 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned 0.05% of Ecolab worth $28,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after acquiring an additional 387,545 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,078,000 after buying an additional 123,572 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $432,945,000 after buying an additional 41,545 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,224,000 after buying an additional 85,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after acquiring an additional 155,151 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $227.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The business’s 50 day moving average is $224.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $202.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.