Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC Has $508,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,990 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in Ecolab by 6.7% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 72,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 4,527 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,710,000. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 50,272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,836,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.1% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 62,752 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,022,000 after acquiring an additional 2,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $600,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on ECL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $250.34 on Monday. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $250.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.50. The stock has a market cap of $70.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $189.58 and a twelve month high of $262.61.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.98%.

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.