USA Financial Formulas lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 45.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,637 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 3,059 shares during the quarter. USA Financial Formulas' holdings in Ecolab were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,317,811,000 after acquiring an additional 68,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 0.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $981,007,000 after acquiring an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Ecolab by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $608,851,000 after purchasing an additional 122,715 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Ecolab Stock Up 0.8 %
Shares of ECL stock traded up $1.92 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $238.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 577,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,072,680. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $67.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.44, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $242.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.57.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Ecolab's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 36.47%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $277.47.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on ECL
Ecolab Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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