Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank Sells 1,926 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,294 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,926 shares during the period. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $547,000. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 60,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,463,000 after acquiring an additional 4,744 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 194,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,197,000 after purchasing an additional 9,731 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.0 %

ECL opened at $250.34 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $189.58 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $70.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 31.98%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group cut shares of 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. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Company 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.