Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 304,741 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,150,463 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 304,741 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 1.82% of Ecolab worth $1,315,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.0 %

ECL traded up $2.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $250.34. 931,511 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,032,985. 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 50 day moving average price of $250.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.23. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $189.58 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.87.

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.