Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,606,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 76,637 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $376,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.00.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $266.60 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $246.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $268.15. The firm has a market cap of $75.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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 net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

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.