XML Financial LLC Buys 120 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

XML Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,378 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth 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. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $241.73 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $68.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $241.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $245.65.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.