Richwood Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Richwood Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 40 shares during the quarter. Richwood Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% during the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $246,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $250.79 on Friday. The stock 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. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $254.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 35.23%.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.