First National Bank of Omaha Sells 734 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

First National Bank of Omaha cut its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,533 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 734 shares during the period. First National Bank of Omaha’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter worth $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $250.34 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $250.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.41. The company has a market capitalization of $70.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $189.58 and a 12-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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend 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.