Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC Sells 235 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC cut its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,699 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 235 shares during the period. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Ecolab by 526.2% in the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $35,040,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,128,000 after acquiring an additional 47,351 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $1.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $218.16. 2,586,603 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,222,955. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86. The company has a market cap of $62.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.69, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $198.77.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.47.

Ecolab 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.