Albion Financial Group UT Has $1.38 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Albion Financial Group UT grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $40,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $240.88 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $195.49 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.78, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $241.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.65.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its 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. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

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.