UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Sells 182,064 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,660,050 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 182,064 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $857,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 796,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $203,285,000 after buying an additional 69,142 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 99.8% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 2,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,069 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,656,000 after buying an additional 1,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $261.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $74.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $246.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $247.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.47.

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.