Atomi Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,496 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Atomi Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $807,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,424,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 56 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 subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.06.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL traded down $3.93 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $242.19. 306,959 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,157,583. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $237.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $222.61. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $246.51. 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 has a market cap of $69.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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 business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.