Sawyer & Company Inc Reduces Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sawyer & Company Inc cut its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,525 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,843 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 1.3% of Sawyer & Company Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,697,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1,406.3% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in Ecolab by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Old North State Trust LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Ecolab from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $158.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total value of $717,631.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,442 shares in the company, valued at $2,027,423.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $154.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.04 and a 12-month high of $185.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.47, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.92.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.69% and a return on equity of 18.02%. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 20th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 55.50%.

About Ecolab

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Ecolab, Inc engages in the provision of products and services in the field of water, hygiene, and energy. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Energy & Life Science, and Other. The Global Industrial segment consists of the water, food and beverage, paper, and downstream operating segments.