Webster Bank N. A. Decreases Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Webster Bank N. A. reduced its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 815 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were 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 owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $242.28 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.49 and a fifty-two 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 capitalization of $68.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $241.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.64.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.