Mackenzie Financial Corp Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mackenzie Financial Corp cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 28.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 86,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 33,925 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $20,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $521,399,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $80,564,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays decreased their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of ECL stock opened at $261.06 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.96 and a 12-month high of $273.69. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $247.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $248.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

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.