Patten Group Inc. Cuts Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Patten Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,931 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Ecolab by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,441,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $337,770,000 after acquiring an additional 38,402 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 70,740 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,576,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 19,002 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,993 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $269.47 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $247.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.96. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $76.26 billion, a PE ratio of 36.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab 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.