Legal & General Group Plc Sells 321,176 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,202,305 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 321,176 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.78% of Ecolab worth $516,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $521,399,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 206.7% during the 4th 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 period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,564,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew 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 worth $936,300,000 after acquiring an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 886,653 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $207,758,000 after purchasing an additional 296,344 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $313.00 to $265.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 target price on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $285.71.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $2.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $234.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,347,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,147,651. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $254.50 and a 200-day moving average of $249.11. The company has a market capitalization of $66.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 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.