Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Douglas Lane & Associates LLC

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 984 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted 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 acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.27.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ECL opened at $234.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $194.34 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $66.44 billion, a PE ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $243.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.76.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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

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.