Harvest Investment Services LLC Has $410,000 Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Harvest Investment Services LLC cut its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 46.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,749 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,506 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% during the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,769,000 after buying an additional 2,444 shares during the period. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $246,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 price objective on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $240.00 target price (down previously from $265.00) on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $282.33.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.3 %

ECL stock opened at $236.80 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $218.19 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The company has a market cap of $67.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. 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 business's 50-day moving average is $252.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $248.35.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

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.

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