Quantinno Capital Management LP Buys 5,979 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 18.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,496 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 5,979 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,829,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 102,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,250,000 after buying an additional 2,833 shares in the last quarter. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $917,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 13,126 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,328,000 after acquiring an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 52.7% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,259 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,340,000 after acquiring an additional 1,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 7.0% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 2,292 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $2.33 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $250.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 931,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,086,395. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $189.58 and a 12 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. The company has a market capitalization of $70.88 billion, a PE ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $250.89 and a 200 day moving average of $245.23.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 31.98%.

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.