Sawyer & Company Inc Sells 287 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sawyer & Company Inc lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 287 shares during the quarter. Ecolab accounts for 1.4% of Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Sawyer & Company Inc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Motco bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2,042.9% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $238.00 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $233.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $219.27. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $245.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $67.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.12.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their price target on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

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.