Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 447,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 10,534 shares during the quarter. Ecolab accounts for approximately 1.2% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC owned 0.16% of Ecolab worth $65,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 122.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 16,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 9,315 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,166,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $792,000 after buying an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $624,000 after buying an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.
Ecolab Trading Down 0.9 %
ECL traded down $1.41 on Monday, hitting $162.96. The company had a trading volume of 631,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,158,648. The firm has a market cap of $46.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.41, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.00. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.04 and a 1 year high of $185.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $159.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.69 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.69% and a return on equity of 18.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current year.
Ecolab Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 20th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.50%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total transaction of $717,631.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,442 shares in the company, valued at $2,027,423.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Mizuho raised their price objective on Ecolab from $158.00 to $163.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 12th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.80.
Ecolab Profile
Ecolab, Inc engages in the provision of products and services in the field of water, hygiene, and energy. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Energy & Life Science, and Other. The Global Industrial segment consists of the water, food and beverage, paper, and downstream operating segments.