Rhumbline Advisers Reduces Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 489,295 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 20,281 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned 0.17% of Ecolab worth $114,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.5% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,209 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,267,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 6.3% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,845 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 5,640 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,440,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 28.5% during the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 21.1% in the third quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 1,049 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.1 %

ECL traded down $0.15 on Wednesday, hitting $266.07. The company had a trading volume of 847,276 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,251,343. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $213.94 and a 1 year high of $268.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company's fifty day moving average price is $243.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $247.06. The firm has a market cap of $75.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.05, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 0.98%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company 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.