Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock Holdings Decreased by HighMark Wealth Management LLC

HighMark Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 51 shares during the period. HighMark Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $472,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $981,007,000 after acquiring an additional 35,027 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,168,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $295,661,000 after buying an additional 13,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ECL opened at $264.99 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $242.98 and its 200 day moving average is $246.69. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.94 and a fifty-two week high of $268.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a PE ratio of 37.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.