Larry L. Berger Sells 10,858 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $268.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $76.07 billion, a PE ratio of 36.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $270.57. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $247.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.64.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.00.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Ecolab

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.