International Assets Investment Management LLC Cuts Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 99.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,749 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 735,818 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $635,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 23.4% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 350,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,297,000 after purchasing an additional 66,432 shares in the last quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the second quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 7,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 64.0% in the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,389 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,283,000 after buying an additional 2,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 43.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 1,423 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $229.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $195.49 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $243.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.58. The company has a market cap of $65.11 billion, a PE ratio of 32.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Company 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.