Harbour Investments Inc. Sells 81 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Harbour Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 81 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 3.1% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Ecolab by 6.0% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,959,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in Ecolab by 14.5% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 9,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 11.1% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 8,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,043,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 16.4% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 9,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

ECL stock opened at $250.79 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $250.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The stock has a market cap of $71.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

About Ecolab

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.