Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. Reduces Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 564 shares during the quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,161,946 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $272,267,000 after buying an additional 6,207 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $333,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 54,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,841,000 after purchasing an additional 2,313 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,441,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 66.1% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ECL opened at $268.64 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $247.25 and its 200 day moving average is $248.69. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $270.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company 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.