Focus Financial Network Inc. Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Focus Financial Network Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $981,007,000 after buying an additional 35,027 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,168,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $295,661,000 after acquiring an additional 13,654 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE ECL opened at $245.50 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.99 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $241.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.96. The stock has a market cap of $69.51 billion, a PE ratio of 34.43, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. Corporate 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.