Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock Holdings Lifted by L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP

L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the quarter. Ecolab accounts for 1.0% of L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Up 6.2 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $261.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $241.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $201.99 and a 52 week high of $267.56.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total transaction of $24,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab 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.