CWA Asset Management Group LLC Buys 81 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $420,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 2.6% during the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 324.7% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 5,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 4,357 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Ecolab by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 99,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,904 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden boosted its stake in Ecolab by 50.2% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 42,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,186,000 after purchasing an additional 14,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.3% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 42,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,080,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $234.65 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $194.34 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $66.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $243.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.76.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.