Trust Co. of Vermont Sells 2,496 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Trust Co. of Vermont lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,496 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,231,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $1.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $237.63. 2,312,522 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 953,363. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $242.20 and its 200-day moving average is $245.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

About Ecolab

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.