Nordea Investment Management AB Acquires 129,635 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.57% of Ecolab worth $381,552,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Ecolab by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 89,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,367,000 after buying an additional 2,848 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 0.9% during the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 39,070 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,299,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2.5% during the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,897 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,687,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 9,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,244,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $957,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $231.93 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $244.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $246.01. The firm has a market cap of $65.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.46 and a 1 year high of $262.61.

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

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.60.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.