DF Dent & Co. Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

DF Dent & Co. Inc. reduced its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 892,902 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 19,663 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up approximately 2.6% of DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. DF Dent & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $209,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,679,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Ecolab by 4.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,601,000 after purchasing an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth $230,000. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.4% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 5,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $1,075,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. UBS Group lifted 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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. 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 research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.2 %

ECL stock opened at $253.64 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $256.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.26. The company has a market capitalization of $71.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share 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, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors 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 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.