Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 320,433 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Franklin Resources Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,197,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 320,433 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.13% of Ecolab worth $749,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $253.64 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The stock has a market cap of $71.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $256.36 and a 200 day moving average of $250.21. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction 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 approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.88.

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.