Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Grandfield & Dodd LLC

Grandfield & Dodd LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 143 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 206.7% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $80,564,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,204,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 64.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after buying an additional 129,738 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake 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 worth $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECL. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.00.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE ECL opened at $268.64 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.40, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $247.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $248.76. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.05 and a 12 month high of $270.57.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Ecolab 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.