Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 950 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $248.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $250.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.91, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.46 and a 52 week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

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.