Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Buys 15,834 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 60,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,744 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 194,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,197,000 after purchasing an additional 9,731 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Ecolab by 7.9% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 37,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $248.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $70.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $250.36 and its 200 day moving average is $245.72. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.46 and a 52 week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

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.