Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Blossom Wealth Management

Blossom Wealth Management grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Blossom Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Ecolab by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. 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 report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 425,430 shares of company stock worth $104,201,556 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $249.97 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $195.49 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $70.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.06, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average of $241.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 36.47%.

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.