Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA Sells 325 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 325 shares during the period. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $80,564,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $39,204,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Ecolab by 64.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after acquiring an additional 129,738 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $268.64 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.07 billion, a PE ratio of 36.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.64. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $270.57.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

About Ecolab

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.