Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Holdings Cut by Ade LLC

Ade LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund 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 hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth 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 holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of ECL opened at $237.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a PE 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.62.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date 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 payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.