Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Has $2.69 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECLFree Report) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 461 shares during the quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total transaction of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $249.76 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.49 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $70.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

View Our Latest Analysis on Ecolab

About Ecolab

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

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