Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 2,804 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 63,597 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,804 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $14,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased 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 trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $249.29 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $256.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $250.18. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

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.