Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Purchased by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 165,460 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,853 shares during the period. Eastern Bank owned 0.06% of Ecolab worth $38,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in Ecolab by 17.3% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 0.5% during the third quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL traded up $3.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $233.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,368,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,121,342. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50 day moving average is $242.77 and its 200 day moving average is $245.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab's revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.