6,696 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Purchased by Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,710,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 50,272 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,836,000 after buying an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 62,752 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $16,022,000 after acquiring an additional 2,471 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $600,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 48.5% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 180,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,155,000 after purchasing an additional 59,028 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 12.2% during the third quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,046,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $247.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $250.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $191.53 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $69.98 billion, a PE ratio of 34.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

About Ecolab

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.