Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Acquires 1,287 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 62,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $14,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 154.2% during the 4th quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 6,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,527,000 after buying an additional 3,952 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 127,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,869,000 after acquiring an additional 5,506 shares during the last quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 169,602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,741,000 after acquiring an additional 6,870 shares during the period. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 112.3% in the 4th quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 31,634 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,412,000 after purchasing an additional 16,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its holdings in Ecolab by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 9,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,250,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays raised their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $267.43 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $215.41 and a 12 month high of $268.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.24, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $244.45 and its 200 day moving average is $247.34.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 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.