Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. Sells 42 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Elmwood Wealth Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 42 shares during the quarter. Elmwood Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE ECL traded up $2.17 on Monday, reaching $256.17. The company had a trading volume of 152,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,091,863. The firm has a market cap of $73.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $258.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $247.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.87.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab 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.