Tritonpoint Wealth LLC Invests $3.96 Million in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Tritonpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 19,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,959,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. United Bank raised its stake in Ecolab by 2.7% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 4,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 7.6% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 23.0% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 6.7% during the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its stake in Ecolab by 17.1% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,920,000 after purchasing an additional 10,676 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $227.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $219.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $195.79. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.27 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $226.76.

Ecolab 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.