Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Lowers Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC reduced its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 738 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 22.6% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 20,632 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,268,000 after purchasing an additional 3,797 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 74.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 18,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,820,000 after buying an additional 8,068 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.4% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 30,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,664,000 after buying an additional 1,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $292,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.00.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE ECL opened at $263.94 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $268.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.76, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $245.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.97.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 35.23%.

About Ecolab

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.