Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Headlands Technologies LLC

Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Ecolab by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,078,000 after purchasing an additional 123,572 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $432,945,000 after purchasing an additional 41,545 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Ecolab by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after purchasing an additional 85,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,173,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $368,142,000 after purchasing an additional 48,375 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $221.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $223.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $201.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.21 billion, a PE ratio of 46.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Company 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.