Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 130 shares during the period. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 15.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab
In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total value of $20,629,403.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at $7,264,396,133.28. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Ecolab Price Performance
Ecolab Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.
Read Our Latest Research Report on ECL
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.
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