Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Position Boosted by Achmea Investment Management B.V.

Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 42.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,302 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 10,233 shares during the period. Achmea Investment Management B.V.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 98.6% during the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $79,980,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $4.30 on Friday, hitting $267.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,155,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,180,281. The company has a market capitalization of $75.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The stock's 50-day moving average is $258.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $251.23.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho cut their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Company 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.