WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 300 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at $7,264,396,133.28. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $264.99 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $242.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a PE ratio of 37.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.94 and a 1-year high of $268.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.