Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,038 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,838 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,992,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,589,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $2.81 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $240.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 444,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,160,247. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $241.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.02 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.49 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.08%. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $277.47.

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.