St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Cuts Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC cut its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECLFree Report) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 124 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its holdings in 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 lifted its stake 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 worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Ecolab

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $242.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $241.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.62. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $195.49 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECLGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Ecolab Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

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