Larry L. Berger Sells 10,858 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.5 %

ECL stock opened at $268.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.40, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $270.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average of $247.25 and a 200-day moving average of $248.64.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $287,000. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $99,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $78,218,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1,448.3% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 24,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,805,000 after acquiring an additional 23,173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 2,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $471,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

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.