Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 210 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 28.3% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 11.7% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,679,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in Ecolab by 4.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,601,000 after buying an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $230,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 7,037.0% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 36,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,348,000 after acquiring an additional 36,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $253.64 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $256.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.21.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

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.