7,741 Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 555,538 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,741 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $152,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Wellington Altus USA Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 64.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Altus USA Inc. now owns 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. TOWER TRUST & INVESTMENT Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Polaris Financial Partners bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $287.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Ecolab from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Ecolab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.58.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $302.80 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $243.15 and a one year high of $309.27. The company has a 50 day moving average of $282.01 and a 200-day moving average of $276.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $84.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.85.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.18. Ecolab had a net margin of 11.99% and a return on equity of 22.57%. The business had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.73 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 39.73%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total value of $5,003,860.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,431,170.48. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning solutions for businesses and institutions. The company helps customers manage water and energy use, maintain sanitary operations, protect food supplies and comply with health and safety standards.

Ecolab serves customers across industries including food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, institutional facilities and energy. Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, water-treatment and process-management systems, pest-control services, kitchen and housekeeping products, infection-prevention programs, and related equipment, training and consulting services.

Founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, the company has expanded from its original focus on cleaning products into a broad range of technology-enabled services and solutions.