Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,950.4% during 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 buying an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $80,564,000. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 750.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after buying an additional 129,738 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $264.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $75.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.17, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $242.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $246.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.94 and a twelve month high of $268.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

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.