Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 702 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

Ecolab stock opened at $264.99 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.17, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $213.94 and a one year high of $268.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $242.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

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.