Sarasin & Partners LLP Buys 4,789 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sarasin & Partners LLP raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 328,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 4,789 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises approximately 0.8% of Sarasin & Partners LLP's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned about 0.12% of Ecolab worth $76,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 0.3% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,226,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.6 %

ECL traded down $1.52 during trading on Monday, reaching $237.63. 2,312,522 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 953,363. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $241.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $245.62. The stock has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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

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.