Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Has $23.09 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 9.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,840 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,180 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $23,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Winslow Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% in 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 buying an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $319,641,000 after buying an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Five 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ECL traded up $0.30 on Friday, hitting $267.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 966,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,180,551. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $263.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 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 $274.17.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business 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 yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

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.