SL Advisors LLC Has $315,000 Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SL Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises about 0.5% of SL Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. SL Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,687,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 3.8% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,705 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.6% in the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $2.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $234.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 304,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 922,513. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.84. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $66.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.84, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $194.34 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the 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 approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.