Wells Fargo & Company MN trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,610,088 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 118,820 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.57% of Ecolab worth $377,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Leeward Financial Partners LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 18,441 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,321,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 870 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 14,973 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,508,000 after buying an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 17,361 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,068,000 after acquiring an additional 4,475 shares during the period. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 96.3% during the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 19,159 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,489,000 after purchasing an additional 9,400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $284.00.
Check Out Our Latest Report on ECL
Ecolab Stock Performance
Shares of ECL stock traded down $7.53 on Thursday, reaching $230.02. The stock had a trading volume of 404,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,142,829. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The stock has a market cap of $65.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $255.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $249.45.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.
Ecolab Dividend Announcement
The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.23%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab
In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Ecolab
(
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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