HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 320 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 83,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $21,367,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $250.31 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $189.58 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $70.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $250.89 and a 200 day moving average of $245.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ECL. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab 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.