Strong Tower Advisory Services Has $2.51 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after buying an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Ecolab by 295.2% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,317,000 after purchasing an additional 591,040 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 580.7% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after purchasing an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in Ecolab by 750.9% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Ecolab by 64.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after purchasing an additional 129,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

ECL opened at $237.63 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $241.96 and a 200-day moving average of $245.55. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. 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 $67.29 billion, a PE ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.