Trust Co. of Vermont Sells 2,496 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Trust Co. of Vermont decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,268 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,496 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont's holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $188,578,000 after buying an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Ecolab by 295.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $188,317,000 after purchasing an additional 591,040 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 580.7% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $72,248,000 after purchasing an additional 258,971 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 750.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $41,519,000 after purchasing an additional 143,497 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $84,380,000 after buying an additional 129,738 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

ECL stock traded down $1.52 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $237.63. 2,312,522 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 953,363. 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 has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a PE ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $241.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.55. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion during 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 was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

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.