Dudley & Shanley Inc. Sells 325 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Dudley & Shanley Inc. lessened its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 104,953 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 325 shares during the quarter. Ecolab makes up about 4.2% of Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $26,798,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $77,005,000 after purchasing an additional 16,747 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 9.2% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,947,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 56,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,368,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $239.09. 1,085,230 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,099,054. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.46 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

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.