Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC Has $204,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $521,399,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,564,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Ecolab by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 886,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $207,758,000 after purchasing an additional 296,344 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $237.65 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $256.93 and a 200-day moving average of $250.15. The firm has a market cap of $67.41 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired 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 owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.