Advisory Alpha LLC Has $241,000 Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Advisory Alpha LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECLFree Report) by 16.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,030 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 148 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $242.62 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $68.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 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. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $241.38 and its 200-day moving average is $245.62. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECLGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target 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. Barclays raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Read Our Latest Research Report on ECL

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

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