Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Ayrshire Capital Management LLC

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises approximately 2.9% of Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 607.9% in the 4th quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,681 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,800,000 after purchasing an additional 6,596 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Courier Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 2,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 165,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,771,000 after acquiring an additional 2,853 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on 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 objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.6 %

Ecolab stock opened at $233.45 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.49 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $242.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently 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.