Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC Sells 1,809 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 34.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,809 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 0.6% of Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Sound Financial Strategies Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,051 shares during the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 526.2% in the 4th quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after acquiring an additional 47,863 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,338,000 after acquiring an additional 9,695 shares during the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,040,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 39.6% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,128,000 after acquiring an additional 47,351 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $220.78. 670,449 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,206,120. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.09, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $223.71 and a 200 day moving average of $200.43.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

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.