Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,032 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,745,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ECL opened at $241.73 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $241.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.65. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

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.