Synovus Financial Corp Decreases Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Synovus Financial Corp lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,698 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,695,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Ecolab by 295.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,317,000 after buying an additional 591,040 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 580.7% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,248,000 after buying an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 136.0% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 359,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $85,467,000 after buying an additional 206,973 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Ecolab by 87.0% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 333,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,376,000 after acquiring an additional 155,168 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $250.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $250.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $245.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.46 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

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.