Wellington Management Group LLP Has $1.38 Billion Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,956,811 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,718,013 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 2.44% of Ecolab worth $1,379,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Motco bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $36,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:ECL traded down $1.48 on Friday, hitting $240.05. The stock had a trading volume of 709,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 931,848. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market cap of $68.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $243.37. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $216.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.