Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Natixis

Natixis boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,174 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,567 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.33.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $238.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.27 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The company has a market capitalization of $67.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.32, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average of $253.24 and a 200-day moving average of $248.58.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly 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, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last quarter. 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.