Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Reduces Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 124,897 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 9,313 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $31,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 9.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 796,170 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $203,285,000 after buying an additional 69,142 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 33.6% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 390 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in Ecolab by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 72,239 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 4,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth $1,710,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $279.87.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $249.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,017,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,086,104. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $191.53 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $250.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.50. The company has a market cap of $70.62 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The company's revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.98%.

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.