Park Avenue Securities LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 26.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,345 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,947 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its position 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 during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC increased its position 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 valued at $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $237.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a PE ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $242.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $245.47. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.49 and a 1 year 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.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.