Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc. Sells 425 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,078,000 after purchasing an additional 123,572 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $432,945,000 after purchasing an additional 41,545 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Ecolab by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after purchasing an additional 85,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,215,000 after buying an additional 91,547 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of ECL traded up $1.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $234.31. The stock had a trading volume of 541,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,019,005. The company has a market capitalization of $66.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $210.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $236.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

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.