Hantz Financial Services Inc. Has $2.40 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $252.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $71.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $241.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.68.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 425,430 shares of company stock worth $104,201,556. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.