Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Purchased by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 258,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,135 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned about 0.09% of Ecolab worth $51,555,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. United Bank raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 4,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,920,000 after acquiring an additional 10,676 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $226.76.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $3.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $227.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,410,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,157,055. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $65.12 billion, a PE ratio of 47.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s 50 day moving average is $219.11 and its 200-day moving average is $195.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

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.