Duality Advisers LP lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 92.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,532 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 18,038 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,054,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,185,126,000 after acquiring an additional 149,219 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% in the third quarter. Pictet Asset Management SA now owns 3,747,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $537,746,000 after acquiring an additional 157,091 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,079,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $543,784,000 after acquiring an additional 32,366 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 3.6% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 2,930,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $423,188,000 after acquiring an additional 102,484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its stake in Ecolab by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 2,496,519 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $363,393,000 after buying an additional 356,203 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ecolab from $167.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. VNET Group reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lowered Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Monday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.20.
Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.02. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.05% and a net margin of 7.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.48%.
Insider Transactions at Ecolab
In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total transaction of $717,631.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,027,423.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total transaction of $717,631.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,027,423.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christophe Beck sold 34,450 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.48, for a total value of $5,976,386.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,201,899.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Ecolab Profile
Ecolab, Inc engages in the provision of products and services in the field of water, hygiene, and energy. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Energy & Life Science, and Other. The Global Industrial segment consists of the water, food and beverage, paper, and downstream operating segments.
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