Hager Investment Management Services LLC Takes Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its stake in Ecolab by 62.0% in the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $248.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $241.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.86. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $195.49 and a 52 week 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 stock has a market capitalization of $70.48 billion, a PE ratio of 34.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

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.