Bath Savings Trust Co Increases Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bath Savings Trust Co raised its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises 1.7% of Bath Savings Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Ecolab by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 89,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,367,000 after purchasing an additional 2,848 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 2.5% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,687,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,705 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $977,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.27.

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 dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL traded up $1.37 on Tuesday, reaching $232.75. 423,896 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 868,173. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.46 and a fifty-two 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 firm has a market cap of $65.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $244.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $245.92.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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

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.