Courier Capital LLC Acquires 144 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Courier Capital LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in 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 during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $233.45 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $66.10 billion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $195.49 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $242.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.60.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. 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 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

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.