One Wealth Capital Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

One Wealth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $230.73. The stock had a trading volume of 720,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 922,143. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $244.31 and its 200 day moving average is $245.92. 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 has a market capitalization of $65.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.46 and a twelve month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.