Greenleaf Trust Cuts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Greenleaf Trust decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 72 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $261,000. Cambridge Trust Co. grew its position in Ecolab by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 96,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,142,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in Ecolab by 125.8% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,762,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $796,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $218.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $62.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.55, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $223.34 and its 200 day moving average is $199.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.47.

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.