First County Bank CT Sells 167 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

First County Bank CT cut its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,687,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.8% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 6,705 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,600,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,103 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $977,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 3,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE ECL opened at $231.74 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.46 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $243.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.84. The company has a market capitalization of $65.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.50, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.27.

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.