BLB&B Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

BLB&B Advisors LLC reduced its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 36,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,020 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. The trade was a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 in the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $247.39 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $200.50 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $241.89 and a 200 day moving average of $245.95. The firm has a market cap of $70.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

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.