Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $27,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its position in Ecolab by 17.3% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 0.5% in the third quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $229.95 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $195.49 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $65.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $243.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Ecolab 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.