UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Has $4.76 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,312 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,321 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 17.5% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 11.1% during the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 2,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in Ecolab by 4.1% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 68,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,574,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $251.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $71.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $255.22 and its 200 day moving average is $250.15.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.