Biltmore Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Biltmore Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,311 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the quarter. Biltmore Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, 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 worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of 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. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $233.45 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $242.77 and a 200 day moving average of $245.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.