Howland Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Howland Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 167,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,463 shares during the quarter. Ecolab makes up about 1.7% of Howland Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Howland Capital Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Ecolab worth $39,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% in 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 boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.3% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 3.0% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.1 %

ECL opened at $247.39 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $200.50 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $70.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $241.86 and its 200 day moving average is $245.96.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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