Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Albion Financial Group UT

Albion Financial Group UT grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the quarter. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% in 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 third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.5 %

ECL stock opened at $240.88 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $241.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.65. 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 market capitalization of $68.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.49 and a 52 week high of $262.61.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.