Allianz SE Invests $711,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Allianz SE purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,031 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after purchasing an additional 105,289 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after buying an additional 68,043 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in Ecolab by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Ecolab by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,499,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $586,309,000 after acquiring an additional 83,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $521,399,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.3 %

ECL stock opened at $249.29 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $273.69. The company has a market capitalization of $70.71 billion, a PE ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $256.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share 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 anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.88.

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.