Great Waters Wealth Management Has $844,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Great Waters Wealth Management lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,306 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. Great Waters Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $844,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,933,000 after buying an additional 62,434 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gillson Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,374,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $251.02. 656,250 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,107,165. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $246.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $237.87. The company has a market cap of $71.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $256.59.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.