AIA Group Ltd Sells 101,189 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 97.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 101,189 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Robbins Farley bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $218.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $223.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $199.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ECL. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.