OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Acquires 4,163 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,042 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,163 shares during the quarter. Ecolab accounts for 1.0% of OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $33,986,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Ecolab by 131.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 180,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,184,000 after purchasing an additional 102,687 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% during the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 29.4% in the third quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 56,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,529,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $253.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69. The company’s 50-day moving average is $253.32 and its 200 day moving average is $250.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

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.