Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Palisade Asset Management LLC

Palisade Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,705 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 457 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up about 1.8% of Palisade Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Ecolab by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,078,000 after buying an additional 123,572 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $432,945,000 after buying an additional 41,545 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,224,000 after buying an additional 85,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Ecolab by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after buying an additional 155,151 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $233.23. 1,436,221 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,209,625. The firm has a market cap of $66.60 billion, a PE ratio of 43.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $234.68. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $225.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $204.50.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. 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 42.22%.

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.