Renaissance Group LLC Has $31.65 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Renaissance Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 135,046 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,497 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Group LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $31,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Ecolab by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% during the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444 shares during the period. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $246,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $285.71.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.0 %

ECL traded up $2.43 during mid-day 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 stock has a market capitalization of $66.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $254.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $249.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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