PFW Advisors LLC Makes New $1.26 Million Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,384 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,262,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Courier Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 2,472 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $579,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 165,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,771,000 after purchasing an additional 2,853 shares during the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management lifted its position in Ecolab by 212.5% during 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 period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $3.73 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $233.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,368,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,119,575. The firm has a market cap of $66.10 billion, a PE ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $243.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.65. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. 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 business earned $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.