Courier Capital LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Courier Capital LLC reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 22.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Ecolab by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,510,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $802,069,000 after buying an additional 2,023,685 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 65,845.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,835,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $267,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,139 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 117.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $231.80 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $214.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $193.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $66.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. 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 company posted $1.27 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $220.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $222.19.

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.