Cerity Partners LLC Cuts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 142,793 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,057 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $34,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $225.08 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $255.67 and a 200 day moving average of $249.65. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The company has a market capitalization of $63.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.16%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.20.

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.