Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires 15,834 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 797.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB's holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,940,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% in the third quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.6 %

ECL stock traded up $1.43 during trading on Friday, reaching $250.24. 565,493 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,083,342. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.86 billion, a PE ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.46 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business's 50 day moving average price is $250.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.72.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS 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 business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.