Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $30.47 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 19.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 120,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 19,431 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $30,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Ecolab by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Ecolab by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $831,744,000 after purchasing an additional 200,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3%

ECL stock opened at $261.02 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $74.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.46, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $255.22 and a 200-day moving average of $250.59.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Citigroup cut their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.13.

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.