Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,032 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $981,007,000 after buying an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after purchasing an additional 122,715 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,250,000 after purchasing an additional 8,332 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $241.73 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $241.55 and its 200-day moving average is $245.65. The company has a market cap 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. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.