Savant Capital LLC Acquires 273 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Savant Capital LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 23,650 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,542,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $352,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Liberty Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Liberty Capital Management Inc. now owns 22,010 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,157,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 835 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 8,127 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,904,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 260,415 shares of company stock valued at $63,544,899 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

Ecolab stock opened at $262.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $242.06 and its 200-day moving average is $246.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $212.71 and a fifty-two week high of $267.56.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 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.