Private Trust Co. NA Has $717,000 Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 66.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $282,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 136,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,763,000 after buying an additional 3,328 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 20.7% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $268.64 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $247.25 and a 200-day moving average of $248.69. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $270.57. 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 cap of $76.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

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.