USA Financial Formulas Sells 2,769 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

USA Financial Formulas decreased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 76.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 868 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,769 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas' holdings in Ecolab were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 27,182.2% during 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 lifted its position in Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Ecolab by 206.7% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $7.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $263.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,221,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,711. The stock has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $252.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.13.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. 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 research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed 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.