SouthState Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SouthState Corp lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,619,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after buying an additional 903,307 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19,062.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after acquiring an additional 552,992 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after purchasing an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Ecolab by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 984,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $166,775,000 after purchasing an additional 377,010 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 50.2% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 687,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $116,433,000 after purchasing an additional 229,776 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3 %

Ecolab stock traded up $0.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $227.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,068,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,130. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $224.51 and its 200 day moving average is $202.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The company has a market cap of $65.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.65.

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.