Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 3,847 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 246,354 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,847 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Ecolab worth $62,902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in Ecolab by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 8.5% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 60,768 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $14,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,744 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 194,106 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $46,197,000 after purchasing an additional 9,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Ecolab by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 37,867 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $9,669,000 after buying an additional 2,772 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. 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. Piper Sandler upped their price target on 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 reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of ECL traded down $2.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $247.13. 1,295,763 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,086,984. The business has a fifty day moving average of $250.69 and a 200-day moving average of $245.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.98 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $191.53 and a 1-year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Ecolab's revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current 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 $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.