Fmr LLC Has $474.90 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Fmr LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,026,716 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 82,945 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned approximately 0.72% of Ecolab worth $474,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its position in Ecolab by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 55,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,934,000 after acquiring an additional 12,700 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Ecolab by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 456,120 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $106,881,000 after acquiring an additional 33,362 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its position in Ecolab by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 227,649 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,343,000 after acquiring an additional 37,050 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its position in Ecolab by 607.1% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 8,280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,940,000 after acquiring an additional 7,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $64,429,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Ecolab from $313.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.00.

Ecolab Trading Up 5.4 %

ECL opened at $237.86 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $255.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.23, a PEG 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 one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.