Great Lakes Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,273 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,932 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in Ecolab by 206.7% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $80,564,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $61,073,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $39,204,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Ecolab by 64.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after purchasing an additional 129,738 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a 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 company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $255.02 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $251.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $249.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $72.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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 return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% 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.