Sawyer & Company Inc Has $2.83 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sawyer & Company Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,066 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,175 shares during the quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc's holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,827,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. Barclays raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $2.49 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $239.04. 1,031,572 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,120,087. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $67.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $242.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $245.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 1.09%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is 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.