Archford Capital Strategies LLC Has $1.24 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Affiance Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Affiance Financial LLC now owns 2,077 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp increased its position in Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 39,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,174,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 964 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $632,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 69,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,194,000 after acquiring an additional 5,308 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Barclays boosted their price target 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, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $242.28 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $195.49 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $241.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $68.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.