M&G Plc Decreases Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

M&G Plc lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 166,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,835 shares during the period. M&G Plc owned approximately 0.06% of Ecolab worth $39,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,423,116,000 after purchasing an additional 304,402 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,215,000 after buying an additional 91,547 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Ecolab by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after acquiring an additional 155,151 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $365,420,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth about $390,687,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.7 %

ECL stock traded up $4.09 on Tuesday, hitting $241.33. 1,143,898 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,162,952. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $249.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market cap of $68.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $240.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.38.

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.