Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 456,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,362 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.16% of Ecolab worth $106,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, 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 quarter, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $289.33.

Ecolab Trading Down 5.0 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $237.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $67.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $256.93 and a 200-day moving average of $250.15.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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%. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

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.