Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Decreases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its position in Ecolab by 17.3% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% in the third quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,226,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a 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 $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.4 %

Ecolab stock opened at $248.91 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $250.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.70. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.46 and a 1-year high of $262.61. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 31.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last quarter. 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.