Abound Wealth Management Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Abound Wealth Management lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 212.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the quarter. Abound Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $47,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ECL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of ECL traded up $2.95 during trading on Monday, reaching $232.67. 736,346 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,025,203. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $243.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $65.88 billion, a PE ratio of 32.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Ecolab Company 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.