Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Sells 338 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Invesco LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,415 shares of company stock valued at $63,544,899. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE ECL opened at $264.99 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.94 and a twelve month high of $268.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $242.68 and its 200 day moving average is $246.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $75.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

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.