Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Pinebridge Investments L.P.

Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 28.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 174,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,669 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. owned about 0.06% of Ecolab worth $40,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew 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 acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 price objective on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.33.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $236.80 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.19 and a 52 week high of $273.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $248.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

About Ecolab

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.