Venturi Wealth Management LLC Has $766,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 130 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 79,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,712,000 after acquiring an additional 11,026 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 577,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $135,232,000 after acquiring an additional 11,648 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Ecolab by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 416,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,502,000 after acquiring an additional 15,809 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 39,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,248,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 17,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,136,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

ECL stock opened at $265.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.94 and a twelve month high of $268.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $243.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $247.06. The stock has a market cap of $75.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.30, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

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.