Perkins Coie Trust Co Sells 137 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Perkins Coie Trust Co lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 137 shares during the period. Perkins Coie Trust Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $237.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $241.96 and its 200 day moving average is $245.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.