Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC Sells 224 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,604 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 224 shares during the period. Sand Hill Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,459,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Motco purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $1.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $233.70. 586,955 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,172,951. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $66.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $226.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $209.43. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $236.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $239.56.

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.