Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 181,760 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,968,703 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 181,760 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.75% of Ecolab worth $1,164,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $249.29 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $70.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $256.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.18. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective 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. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.88.

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.