J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Sells 179 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,828 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,834,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 6.3% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 144.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,899 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 198,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $50,628,000 after acquiring an additional 4,179 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.2 %

ECL opened at $264.99 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $213.94 and a fifty-two week high of $268.00. The company has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $242.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.69.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 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.