Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 178,370 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,661 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 0.06% of Ecolab worth $45,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Ecolab by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 38,496 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,829,000 after buying an additional 5,979 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 102,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833 shares in the last quarter. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at about $917,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.5% in the third quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 13,126 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,328,000 after acquiring an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 52.7% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,340,000 after acquiring an additional 1,814 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. 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 research note on Monday, November 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $2.36 on Friday, reaching $250.34. 931,511 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,032,985. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $189.58 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $70.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company's 50-day moving average is $250.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The company 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 firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company'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 value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was 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 directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

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.