Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc

DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its position in Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $237.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $242.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.47. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.49 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.