Arlington Trust Co LLC Grows Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $247.39 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $241.86 and its 200 day moving average is $245.95. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $200.50 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

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.