Angeles Wealth Management LLC Has $352,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Liberty Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,010 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,157,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 835 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 8,127 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,904,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,973 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,400,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,423,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $245.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.99 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.86 and a 200-day moving average of $245.96.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price 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, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Company 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.