VCI Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

VCI Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 28.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,359 shares during the quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 75,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,757,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 34,227 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,020,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $246,000. United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 54,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,815,000 after purchasing an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in Ecolab by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 460,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $107,835,000 after purchasing an additional 129,729 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.6 %

ECL stock opened at $246.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $69.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.49 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $241.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on ECL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last quarter. 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.