Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Cuts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 796,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,285,000 after purchasing an additional 69,142 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 276.3% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,290,000 after buying an additional 9,462 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $9,830,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 56,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,368,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target 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. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $238.51 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $67.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $253.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $248.62.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly 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 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

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.