Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Strong Tower Advisory Services

Strong Tower Advisory Services decreased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises 0.7% of Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Strong Tower Advisory Services’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,617,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Robbins Farley purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $222.19.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $230.90 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $215.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $66.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

Ecolab Company 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.