Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Somerset Group LLC

Somerset Group LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 109 shares during the quarter. Somerset Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in 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 lifted its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 47.9% during the 4th 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 purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $246,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $250.79 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.04. The company has a market cap of $71.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, 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.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given 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 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.