Sheets Smith Wealth Management Trims Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 292 shares during the quarter. Ecolab makes up about 1.5% of Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,051,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 6,291 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,474,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 research report on Monday, March 24th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.13.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $266.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $75.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $255.77 and its 200 day moving average is $250.73. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

Ecolab 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.