Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stake Lifted by Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.

Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of ECL opened at $237.63 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $241.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.55.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

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.