Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by MV Capital Management Inc.

MV Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 28.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,985 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 7,484 shares during the quarter. MV Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 0.4% during the third quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 3.6% during the third quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $318,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Linscomb & Williams Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 0.7% during the third quarter. Linscomb & Williams Inc. now owns 10,352 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $0.94 on Friday, reaching $221.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,134,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,153,588. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $221.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecolab from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $230.47.

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.