Madison Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 51,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,955,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Ecolab by 797.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 47.9% in the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Ecolab by 7.9% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 37,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,669,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $250.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $70.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $249.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

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.