Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $695,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $981,007,000 after purchasing an additional 35,027 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,250,000 after purchasing an additional 8,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,168,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $295,661,000 after purchasing an additional 13,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Barclays raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $249.71 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $195.49 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $241.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.65. The stock has a market cap of $70.71 billion, a PE ratio of 35.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total transaction of $24,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last 90 days. 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.