Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Webster Bank N. A.

Webster Bank N. A. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,747 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the quarter. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 1,686 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 526.2% in the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after acquiring an additional 47,863 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,796 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $555,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 3,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $710,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $226.76.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $228.33 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $218.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $195.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $65.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 47.60%.

Ecolab 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.