Martin Currie Ltd. Raises Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Martin Currie Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 49.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,667 shares during the quarter. Martin Currie Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 13,503 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,448,000 after buying an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its position in Ecolab by 1.8% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 16,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,249,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 28.3% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in Ecolab by 11.7% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 10,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2.6% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 10,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,577,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, 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 have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $249.29 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $256.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.18. The stock has a market cap of $70.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. 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.