Ossiam boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,112 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,298 shares during the quarter. Ossiam's holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,658,768,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $936,300,000 after buying an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Ecolab by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,993,504 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $701,438,000 after buying an additional 165,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its stake in Ecolab by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,499,757 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $586,309,000 after acquiring an additional 83,328 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity at Ecolab
In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.
Ecolab Trading Down 1.3 %
Shares of ECL traded down $3.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $236.59. 383,241 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,148,449. The business has a fifty day moving average of $251.01 and a 200-day moving average of $248.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.10 billion, a PE ratio of 32.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $218.19 and a 1-year high of $273.69.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 price objective on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.33.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ECL
About Ecolab
(
Free Report)
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.
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