Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Decreases Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 69.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,465 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,388 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its position in Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $286.88.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $251.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,106,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,051,569. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $254.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $250.10. The firm has a market cap of $71.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

About Ecolab

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.