USA Financial Formulas Cuts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

USA Financial Formulas trimmed its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 45.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,637 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,059 shares during the quarter. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in Ecolab in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted 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 worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased 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 valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted 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 worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $236.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.19, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $242.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.57. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $195.49 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.04% 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.