Bell Bank Has $617,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bell Bank cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 36.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,771 shares during the period. Bell Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $617,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors increased its stake in Ecolab by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 1,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $222.19.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

ECL traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $227.72. 468,913 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,215,194. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.11 billion, a PE ratio of 47.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $216.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $194.50. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.43 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

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.