Davidson Trust Co. Sells 61 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Davidson Trust Co. lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Davidson Trust Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Robbins Farley purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of ECL stock traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $217.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 326,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,194,136. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $223.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

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.