Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Sells 3,721 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 646,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,721 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Ecolab worth $128,189,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 0.4% in the third quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% during the third quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% during the third quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 8,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,363,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $219.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $231.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $221.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $198.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.63 billion, a PE ratio of 45.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.47.

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.