975 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Acquired by Spartan Planning & Wealth Management

Spartan Planning & Wealth Management bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners grew its position in Ecolab by 62.0% during 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 period. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $1.37 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $232.75. 423,896 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 868,173. 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 fifty day moving average is $244.31 and its 200-day moving average is $245.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.64, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $193.46 and a one year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.27.

Ecolab Company 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.