SL Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SL Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for about 0.5% of SL Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. SL Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,687,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 3.8% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,705 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,600,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $977,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.2 %

ECL stock traded up $2.71 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $234.15. 304,065 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 922,513. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $194.34 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $243.87 and its 200-day moving average is $245.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $66.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ECL. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.27.

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.