Rhumbline Advisers Raises Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 498,898 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,603 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.18% of Ecolab worth $126,480,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank acquired 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 1st 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 in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. 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 purchased 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $266.72. The company had a trading volume of 1,006,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,169,599. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $249.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.18. The company has a market capitalization of $75.65 billion, a PE ratio of 36.14, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $273.69.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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, Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

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.