TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Purchases 810 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,436 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% during the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $246,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $236.80 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $252.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $67.17 billion, a PE ratio of 32.09, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.19 and a 52 week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.33.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% 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.