YHB Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 5,960 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

YHB Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 77,043 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 5,960 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for about 1.5% of YHB Investment Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. YHB Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $15,281,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. bought a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ECL traded up $0.94 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $221.69. 1,134,523 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,153,588. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $221.50 and a 200-day moving average of $197.78.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

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.