Paladin Wealth LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Paladin Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,708 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 7.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,972,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 249.2% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 9.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,497,000 after purchasing an additional 867 shares during the period. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 9.0% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 6,728 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $245.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $241.86 and its 200 day moving average is $245.96. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.99 and a 12-month high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

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.