Axa S.A. Acquires 79,968 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AXA S.A. lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 17.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 544,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 79,968 shares during the period. AXA S.A. owned approximately 0.19% of Ecolab worth $129,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 42.0% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,015 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $773,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 11,750 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,331,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Ecolab by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 87,521 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $17,360,000 after buying an additional 6,633 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $7,450,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $262.21.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL traded up $0.26 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $254.52. 486,947 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,114,081. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $255.99. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $244.78 and a 200 day moving average of $236.45. The stock has a market cap of $72.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.07, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Company 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.