Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Simplicity Solutions LLC

Simplicity Solutions LLC lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 145 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $645,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares during the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership increased its stake in Ecolab by 526.2% during the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after acquiring an additional 47,863 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $35,040,000. Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,128,000 after acquiring an additional 47,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC now owns 183,159 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,428,000 after acquiring an additional 9,365 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on ECL. Barclays raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $219.25 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.69 billion, a PE ratio of 45.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $222.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

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.