Alerus Financial NA Decreases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Alerus Financial NA lessened its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,275 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $521,399,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,564,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Ecolab by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $936,300,000 after acquiring an additional 304,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Ecolab by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 886,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $207,758,000 after acquiring an additional 296,344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “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 company 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 stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $252.95 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $71.74 billion, a PE ratio of 34.27, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.