First Pacific Financial Cuts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

First Pacific Financial lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,865 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 78 shares during the quarter. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 295.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,317,000 after purchasing an additional 591,040 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Ecolab by 580.7% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after buying an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its position in Ecolab by 750.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in Ecolab by 64.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after buying an additional 129,738 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $239.04 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $67.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $242.35 and a 200 day moving average of $245.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab 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.