Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Retirement Guys Formula LLC

Retirement Guys Formula LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Retirement Guys Formula LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 24,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,713,000 after buying an additional 4,107 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 141,710 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,205,000 after buying an additional 5,559 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,736,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 35,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,383,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,360 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Up 6.2 %

NYSE ECL opened at $261.07 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $241.80 and a 200-day moving average of $245.97. The company has a market cap of $73.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.99 and a 12 month 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.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $281.27.

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.