Augustine Asset Management Inc. Has $4.32 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Augustine Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 360 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises about 1.1% of Augustine Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Augustine Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its holdings in 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 Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Up 6.2 %

ECL stock opened at $261.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.99 and a fifty-two week high of $267.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $241.80 and a 200-day moving average of $245.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total transaction of $24,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. 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.