First Western Trust Bank Lowers Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

First Western Trust Bank lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,987 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,264 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank's holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Argus raised Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.20.

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Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $225.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 398,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,139,871. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $255.67 and a 200-day moving average of $249.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $64.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.10 and a 12 month high of $273.69.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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.