Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 72,352 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,276,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 72,352 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $299,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $252.27 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $255.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.16. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $71.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.88.

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.