Natixis Has $11.05 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Natixis increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 47,174 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,567 shares during the quarter. Natixis' holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 796,170 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $203,285,000 after acquiring an additional 69,142 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 276.3% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,886 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,290,000 after purchasing an additional 9,462 shares during the period. Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at about $9,830,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its stake in Ecolab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 56,276 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $14,368,000 after buying an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ECL. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $240.00 target price (down previously from $265.00) on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.33.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:ECL traded up $1.94 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $239.89. 1,030,516 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,149,653. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $218.19 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $248.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Ecolab Profile

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.