Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by KCM Investment Advisors LLC

KCM Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 75,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,161 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $64,429,000. Leeward Financial Partners LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 18,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,321,000 after purchasing an additional 923 shares in the last quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 14,973 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 17,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,068,000 after buying an additional 4,475 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $237.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $256.93 and a 200-day moving average of $250.15. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $273.69.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.