Apollon Wealth Management LLC Has $858,000 Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 117.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after buying an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19,062.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,261,000 after acquiring an additional 552,992 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after purchasing an additional 387,545 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 62.1% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 984,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $166,775,000 after purchasing an additional 377,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.2% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 687,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $116,433,000 after purchasing an additional 229,776 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Piper Sandler started coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.88.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $233.58 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $234.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $225.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $204.71.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given 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 dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 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.