Country Club Bank Has $466,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Country Club Bank cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,985 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 117 shares during the period. Country Club Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the third 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. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total transaction of $24,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $249.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.72 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $241.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.90.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.