Stephens Inc. AR Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 17.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,973 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $262.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $242.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.08. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $212.71 and a 12 month high of $267.56.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.