Gotham Asset Management LLC Purchases 27,945 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Gotham Asset Management LLC grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 53.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 27,945 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $18,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Invesco LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 1,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ECL. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.47.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

ECL stock opened at $252.78 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $247.38 and its 200 day moving average is $247.69. The company has a market capitalization of $71.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company 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.