BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,678 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 670 shares during the period. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 318.2% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 3,064 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,155 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 301,591 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,005,000 after acquiring an additional 16,747 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $269.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $76.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.54, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $250.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $249.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by 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.