Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Has $1.68 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 494 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings 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 period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings 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 period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Ecolab by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after purchasing an additional 85,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,173,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $368,142,000 after purchasing an additional 48,375 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $1.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $221.10. 1,242,930 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,205,840. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $223.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $200.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

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.