Mirova US LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mirova US LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,966,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 11,422 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 5.9% of Mirova US LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Mirova US LLC owned 0.69% of Ecolab worth $390,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 58.0% in 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $282,185,000 after buying an additional 903,307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Ecolab from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL traded down $1.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $219.25. The stock had a trading volume of 910,450 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,209,824. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $222.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $198.49. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $231.86. The company has a market capitalization of $62.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 47.60%.

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.