Bar Harbor Wealth Management Sells 366 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bar Harbor Wealth Management reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 366 shares during the period. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Motco bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 2,042.9% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $240.27. 338,040 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,154,052. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $249.00. The company has a market cap of $68.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.42, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $240.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.25.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is currently 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.