Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Short Interest Update

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the November 15th total of 1,900,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 976,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $246.17 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $250.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $246.32. The firm has a market cap of $69.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.53, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $193.46 and a 1 year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

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.