Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Ossiam

Ossiam cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 73.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 165,115 shares during the quarter. Ossiam’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 25,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 73.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Angela M. Busch sold 3,460 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $629,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,581,760. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, EVP Angela M. Busch sold 3,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total value of $629,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,581,760. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $183.73 per share, with a total value of $119,424.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 15,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,768,994.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,568 shares of company stock valued at $5,008,604 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $182.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.30, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.01. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.04 and a twelve month high of $191.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.03. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.33% and a net margin of 7.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.08 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $163.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $213.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.86.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.