Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC Sells 108 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 1.5% of Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.07.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded down $2.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $257.35. The stock had a trading volume of 131,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,084,904. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $249.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.39. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $261.54. The stock has a market cap of $73.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.