Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Has $216,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 170.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 920 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its position in Ecolab by 62.0% in the third 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 last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $264.99 on Tuesday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $242.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.69. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $213.94 and a twelve month high of $268.00. The firm has a market cap of $75.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays increased their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

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.