Advisor OS LLC Sells 1,086 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Advisor OS LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 28.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,698 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,086 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC now owns 3,724 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $873,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. FFT Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Brown Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Brown Financial Advisors now owns 4,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $998,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 2,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $266.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $246.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $248.29. The stock has a market cap of $75.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $268.15.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

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.