Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC Trims Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,487 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,553 shares during the quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.0 %

ECL stock opened at $249.79 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.73 billion, a PE ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $200.50 and a 12 month high of $262.61. 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.