Headlands Technologies LLC Buys New Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,256 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,169,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 47.9% in the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444 shares during the period. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $246,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $254.50 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $256.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.23. 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 fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $72.19 billion, a PE ratio of 34.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.