Signaturefd LLC Has $1.16 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,927 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 0.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $981,007,000 after purchasing an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,499,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,309,000 after buying an additional 83,328 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,441,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $337,770,000 after buying an additional 38,402 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $253.51 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $253.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $250.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued 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, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

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.