West Michigan Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

West Michigan Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 89 shares during the period. West Michigan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $282,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.7% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its position in Ecolab by 2.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 136,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,763,000 after buying an additional 3,328 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $268.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $247.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $248.69. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $270.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.