Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1,144.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 211,948 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 194,910 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.07% of Ecolab worth $53,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after purchasing an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,231,873,000 after buying an additional 91,475 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $831,744,000 after purchasing an additional 200,612 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $7.14 on Friday, hitting $263.81. 1,221,133 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,176,580. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $252.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $250.14. The company has a market capitalization of $74.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.13.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.