Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,383 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Investment Management LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,097,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Ecolab from $313.00 to $265.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.67.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE ECL traded up $0.02 on Tuesday, hitting $238.64. The stock had a trading volume of 512,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,144,816. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The business's fifty day moving average price is $254.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $249.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $67.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.23%.

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.