Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by M. Kulyk & Associates LLC

M. Kulyk & Associates LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,177 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,717 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises approximately 1.5% of M. Kulyk & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted 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 valued at $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted 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 valued at $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $1,769,000 after buying an additional 2,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted 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 valued at $9,669,000 after buying an additional 2,772 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value 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 $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE ECL opened at $269.68 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $250.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.66. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $76.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.