Sargent Investment Group LLC Increases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Sargent Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Ecolab by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 51,587 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,172,000 after purchasing an additional 3,155 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $224,000. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE ECL opened at $249.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $241.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.72 and a 52 week high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio 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.