Cetera Investment Advisers Trims Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cetera Investment Advisers reduced its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,720 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,315 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $15,399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $252.78 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $247.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.69. The stock has a market cap of $71.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 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.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 35.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.47.

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.