S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC Sells 25,607 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 60.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,916 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 25,607 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up approximately 1.3% of S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,964,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 8,130 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,345 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,190,000 after buying an additional 1,947 shares in the last quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $726,000. Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 53,673 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $12,577,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $2.74 on Wednesday, hitting $236.64. 1,240,064 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,129,929. The company has a fifty day moving average of $242.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.57. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $67.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $277.47.

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.