BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Decreases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 417,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 51,432 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned 0.15% of Ecolab worth $96,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,240,000 after purchasing an additional 305,039 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,215,000 after purchasing an additional 91,547 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Ecolab by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $367,965,000 after purchasing an additional 155,151 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $365,420,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,343,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $266,392,000 after purchasing an additional 18,687 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $1.87 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $243.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 642,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,153,821. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $246.51. The company has a market capitalization of $69.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $237.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.38.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.06.

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.