Waverly Advisors LLC Sells 1,519 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Waverly Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 114,181 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,519 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $26,755,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 9.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 796,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,285,000 after acquiring an additional 69,142 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 99.8% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 2,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $620,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $394,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’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 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. This trade represents a 40.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $261.22 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $74.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $246.28 and a 200 day moving average of $247.72. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Ecolab’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

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.