Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,648 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 133 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,940,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in Ecolab by 17.3% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.3 %

Ecolab stock opened at $242.28 on Monday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $241.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.62. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $68.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.