Confluence Investment Management LLC Sells 2,264 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Confluence Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 113,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,264 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $26,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after buying an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 295.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,317,000 after acquiring an additional 591,040 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 580.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after acquiring an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 750.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,519,000 after purchasing an additional 143,497 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Ecolab by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after purchasing an additional 129,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.60.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.6 %

Ecolab stock traded down $1.47 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $232.85. The stock had a trading volume of 129,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,089,042. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.46 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $65.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.66, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $245.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.16.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS 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 given a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

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.