Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. decreased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 137 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $252.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $71.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $252.89 and its 200 day moving average is $250.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

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.