Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Great Waters Wealth Management

Great Waters Wealth Management cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,079 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 227 shares during the period. Great Waters Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Ecolab by 295.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,317,000 after purchasing an additional 591,040 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 580.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after buying an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 750.9% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after acquiring an additional 129,738 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $237.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $241.70 and a 200 day moving average of $245.63. 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 twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.