Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Reduces Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 984 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was 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 owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $234.65 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $66.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $243.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.76. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.34 and a 1 year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.27.

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.