Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,188.9% in the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped 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. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE ECL opened at $237.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $195.49 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $241.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.62.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

About Ecolab

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.