Tealwood Asset Management Inc. Purchases 6,596 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Tealwood Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 607.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,681 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,596 shares during the period. Tealwood Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.5% during the third quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of 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 given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $233.65. The stock had a trading volume of 1,080,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,116,172. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $66.16 billion, a PE ratio of 32.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $242.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.