Cantillon Capital Management LLC Has $253.18 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cantillon Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 29.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,276,407 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 536,183 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC owned 0.45% of Ecolab worth $253,175,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 2,805.1% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 38,492 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,635,000 after purchasing an additional 37,167 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $22,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 526.2% in the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $17,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $35,040,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $233.52. The stock had a trading volume of 683,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,202,010. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $234.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.69 billion, a PE ratio of 43.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $204.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.

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