Strong Tower Advisory Services Has $2.51 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Strong Tower Advisory Services increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in Ecolab by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE ECL opened at $237.63 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.49 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.96 and a 200-day moving average of $245.55.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

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.