National Pension Service Increases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 612,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 21,208 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.21% of Ecolab worth $121,461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 117.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after purchasing an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 19,062.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after buying an additional 552,992 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.1% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 984,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $166,775,000 after acquiring an additional 377,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.2% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 687,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $116,433,000 after acquiring an additional 229,776 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

ECL stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $233.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,449,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,236. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $234.68. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $204.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.21, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.88.

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.