Coldstream Capital Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in Ecolab by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $248.91 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $70.48 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $250.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.70. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.46 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % 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 three months, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.