Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Sells 199 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 199 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $521,399,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 98.6% in the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $334,394,000 after acquiring an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,564,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Five 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $252.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $247.38 and a 200-day moving average of $247.55. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $220.96 and a 52-week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

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.