Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Buys 2,222 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 306.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,947 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,222 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $80,564,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $61,073,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $39,204,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 19.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 839,566 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $196,727,000 after purchasing an additional 136,734 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $251.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $71.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.12, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $254.06 and a 200 day moving average of $250.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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 net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.