Tyche Wealth Partners LLC Sells 80 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Tyche Wealth Partners LLC reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 80 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ECL. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

Ecolab stock opened at $249.33 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.72 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.90.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.