Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 51,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,351 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $10,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $218.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 104,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,191,336. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $223.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.77. The company has a market cap of $62.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.60%.

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.