Sanctuary Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 910 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,713,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 170.6% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 305,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,629,000 after buying an additional 4,099 shares in the last quarter. Copperleaf Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Copperleaf Capital LLC now owns 2,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $600,000 after buying an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $3,685,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE ECL opened at $265.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $213.94 and a one year high of $268.00. The firm has a market cap of $75.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.30, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

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.