Great Lakes Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,273 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,932 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Citigroup boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target 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, Barclays boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $255.02 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $251.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.94. 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 company has a market capitalization of $72.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

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.