Czech National Bank Raises Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 3,055 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.6 %

Ecolab stock opened at $233.45 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $242.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.60. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $195.49 and a twelve month high of $262.61. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

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.