Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Has $39.47 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 32.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 168,425 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 79,300 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.06% of Ecolab worth $39,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last quarter. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $282.07.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

Ecolab stock traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $248.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 458,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,152,411. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $247.90. The company has a market cap of $70.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

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.