Ecolab Inc. $ECL Stock Sold by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 73.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,593 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,504 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $438,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $6,422,340,000. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $244,381,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,617,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,007,851,000 after purchasing an additional 51,712 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Ecolab by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,412,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $641,609,000 after purchasing an additional 88,096 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 58.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,243,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $596,902,000 after buying an additional 830,726 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Ecolab from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 price target on Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Ecolab from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ecolab from $344.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $299.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $328.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total value of $5,003,860.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares in the company, valued at $20,431,170.48. This trade represents a 19.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $302.80 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $282.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $276.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $243.15 and a 12 month high of $309.27. The firm has a market cap of $84.88 billion, a PE ratio of 37.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 11.99%. The business had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 39.73%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning solutions for businesses and institutions. The company helps customers manage water and energy use, maintain sanitary operations, protect food supplies and comply with health and safety standards.

Ecolab serves customers across industries including food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, institutional facilities and energy. Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, water-treatment and process-management systems, pest-control services, kitchen and housekeeping products, infection-prevention programs, and related equipment, training and consulting services.

Founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, the company has expanded from its original focus on cleaning products into a broad range of technology-enabled services and solutions.