Lantz Financial LLC Has $226,000 Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 964 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Lantz Financial LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Ecolab by 77.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,236,000 after buying an additional 4,092 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 12.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 109,521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,066,000 after acquiring an additional 11,802 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its position in Ecolab by 159.9% in the second quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 189,843 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,158,000 after purchasing an additional 116,809 shares in the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2.0% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,401,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total transaction of $24,806,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In 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 company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $242.28 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. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $241.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.60.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.