Bar Harbor Wealth Management Has $958,000 Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bar Harbor Wealth Management lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,090 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 293 shares during the quarter. Bar Harbor Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of ECL stock traded up $3.73 on Monday, hitting $233.45. The company had a trading volume of 871,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,031,309. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $243.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $66.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

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.