Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by MV Capital Management Inc.

MV Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 28.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,985 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,484 shares during the quarter. MV Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth $25,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Finally, DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $0.94 during trading on Friday, reaching $221.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,134,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,153,588. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $221.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $197.37. The firm has a market cap of $63.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 47.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $230.47.

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.