Summit Financial LLC Buys 902 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Summit Financial LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 48.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 902 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $253.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $71.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.26. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

Ecolab 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.