Copperleaf Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Copperleaf Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the quarter. Copperleaf Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.3% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $982,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 43.4% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 5,640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,440,000 after buying an additional 1,706 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 28.5% during the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $413,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 21.1% during the third quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $264.99 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $213.94 and a 12 month high of $268.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $242.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a PE ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.33.

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.