Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Has $23.63 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,854 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $23,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $282,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.2% in the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,915 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,000,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $271,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,830 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $269.47. 1,464,396 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,260,722. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $247.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $248.76. The firm has a market cap of $76.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid 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 yield of 0.96%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.