Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 112.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,734 shares during the quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake 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 valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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, February 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted 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, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $266.07 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $244.08 and a 200 day moving average of $247.19. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $213.94 and a 52-week high of $268.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.34 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

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.