Hills Bank & Trust Co Trims Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hills Bank & Trust Co cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,623 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 62 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new position in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $420,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,406 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $641,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its position in Ecolab by 6.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 4,323 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 20.8% in the third quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 3,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $250.87 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $273.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $71.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.