Prudential Financial Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 235,470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,355 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $55,175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Ecolab by 206.7% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $80,564,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 886,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $207,758,000 after acquiring an additional 296,344 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,073,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $252.72 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $71.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $254.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was 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 owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This trade 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 sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab 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.