Ieq Capital LLC Sells 5,409 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ieq Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 40.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,908 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,409 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,853,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 22.6% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,268,000 after acquiring an additional 3,797 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 74.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 18,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,820,000 after purchasing an additional 8,068 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 30,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,829 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.1 %

ECL stock opened at $264.47 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $268.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $74.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

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.