Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 57.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 237,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 86,905 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $55,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 14.2% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,834,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter worth approximately $1,404,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $420,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.5% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,406 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.1% during the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 1,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued 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 an average price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.6 %

ECL opened at $255.02 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $249.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.