Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA Has $3.72 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,097 shares during the quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,720,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 14.1% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $610,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 16,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,354,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 9,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group lowered their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded up $1.00 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $247.23. The company had a trading volume of 538,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,143,449. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.78, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $249.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $240.88 and its 200 day moving average is $231.36.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.