Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY Sells 98 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,927 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the quarter. Bristol John W & Co. Inc. NY’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $221.69. 1,134,523 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,153,588. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $221.50 and its 200-day moving average is $197.57.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 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.