Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 14.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,012 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 14,389 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,510,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $802,069,000 after buying an additional 2,023,685 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 65,845.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,835,923 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $267,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833,139 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $282,185,000 after purchasing an additional 903,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.
Ecolab Stock Performance
ECL stock traded down $1.40 during trading on Thursday, hitting $220.75. The company had a trading volume of 1,052,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,211,179. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $221.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $197.02. 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 firm has a market cap of $63.11 billion, a PE ratio of 46.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared 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 1.03%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ecolab from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $227.88.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Ecolab
Ecolab Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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