Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Advisory Alpha LLC

Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,030 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 553 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Ecolab by 77.2% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,236,000 after acquiring an additional 4,092 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,394 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in Ecolab by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 49,292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,731,000 after acquiring an additional 18,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $8,663,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded 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. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $242.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $241.38 and a 200-day moving average of $245.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. 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 1.07%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.