Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Ade LLC

Ade LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,386 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 69 shares during the period. Ade LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Ecolab by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $237.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $241.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.62. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

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.