Harbour Investments Inc. Sells 81 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Harbour Investments Inc. decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 81 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $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 increased its position in Ecolab by 0.9% during 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 buying an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Amundi increased its position in Ecolab by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,499,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,309,000 after buying an additional 83,328 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in 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 buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,441,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $337,770,000 after buying an additional 38,402 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $250.79 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $254.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $250.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.05 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.