Ayrshire Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ayrshire Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for approximately 2.9% of Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Ayrshire Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $233.45 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.49 and a 52 week 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $242.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

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.