Riverbridge Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Riverbridge Partners LLC lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 37.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,573 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 80,810 shares during the quarter. Riverbridge Partners LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $26,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. United Bank raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 4,149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,090,000 after buying an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 354 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $301,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,182 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,920,000 after buying an additional 10,676 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $3.68 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $224.58. 929,028 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,211,969. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $218.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.29. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The company has a market cap of $64.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $226.76.

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.

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