Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 112,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,757 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $26,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after acquiring an additional 68,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $981,007,000 after purchasing an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in Ecolab by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,499,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,309,000 after purchasing an additional 83,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $521,399,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $252.95 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $255.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.18.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

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.