Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,050 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in Ecolab by 17.3% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 425,430 shares of company stock worth $104,201,556 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a 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 $278.60.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL traded up $5.72 during trading on Thursday, reaching $252.65. 1,005,978 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,165,326. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $71.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $241.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.68. 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 (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

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.