abrdn plc Sells 45,375 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

abrdn plc trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,122,992 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 45,375 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned about 0.40% of Ecolab worth $262,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 0.3% during the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 3.0% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL traded up $0.08 during trading on Thursday, reaching $249.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,068,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,151,918. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $200.50 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $241.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. This is an increase 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 is presently 36.47%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.