Wealthspire Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 422 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after buying an additional 304,402 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,149,000 after acquiring an additional 43,553 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $365,420,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after purchasing an additional 24,648 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.67.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $250.54 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $243.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $235.09. The company has a market capitalization of $71.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $253.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.