International Assets Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 99.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,749 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 735,818 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 295.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $188,317,000 after purchasing an additional 591,040 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 580.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $72,248,000 after purchasing an additional 258,971 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 750.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $41,519,000 after purchasing an additional 143,497 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in Ecolab by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $84,380,000 after purchasing an additional 129,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Ecolab
In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Ecolab Stock Performance
Shares of ECL stock traded down $4.62 on Friday, hitting $229.95. 1,254,259 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,080,177. The company's fifty day moving average is $243.00 and its 200 day moving average is $245.61. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $65.11 billion, a PE ratio of 32.25, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared 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 represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. This is a boost from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.47.
View Our Latest Stock Report on ECL
About Ecolab
(
Free Report)
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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