Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 102,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,833 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $26,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $917,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 13,126 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,328,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 52.7% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,814 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.0% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,292 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 17.9% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 17,165 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,383,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 over the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler raised 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $279.87.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Ecolab
Ecolab Trading Up 1.0 %
ECL stock traded up $2.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $250.34. The company had a trading volume of 931,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,032,985. The business has a 50 day moving average of $250.89 and a 200 day moving average of $245.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $70.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $189.58 and a 52 week high of $262.61.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.98%.
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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