Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Purchased by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 26.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,345 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,947 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,589,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Ecolab by 797.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

ECL stock traded down $1.52 on Friday, hitting $237.63. 2,312,522 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 953,363. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The business's fifty day moving average is $241.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.48. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $277.47.

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.