Prudential PLC Sells 5,615 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Prudential PLC lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 108,851 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 5,615 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $25,506,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $521,399,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 206.7% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $80,564,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Ecolab by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 886,653 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $207,758,000 after buying an additional 296,344 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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Ecolab Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ECL traded down $1.66 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $223.99. 371,961 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,139,570. The firm has a market cap of $63.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.10 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $255.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $249.65.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is 35.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.20.

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.