Community Financial Services Group LLC Buys 513 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,564,000. Eastern Bank boosted its position in Ecolab by 750.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Ecolab by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after acquiring an additional 129,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Ecolab by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $261.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $241.80 and a 200-day moving average of $245.97. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $201.99 and a one year high of $267.56. 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 company has a market cap of $73.92 billion, a PE ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

About Ecolab

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.