Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 69,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,194,000 after acquiring an additional 5,308 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 8,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,973,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Finally, Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $249.71 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $195.49 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $70.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $245.65.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.