Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Has $517,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after buying an additional 68,043 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $981,007,000 after acquiring an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after purchasing an additional 122,715 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,250,000 after purchasing an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ECL opened at $233.65 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $66.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $242.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.57. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

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.