Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 125.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,510,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $802,069,000 after buying an additional 2,023,685 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 65,845.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,835,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,237,000 after buying an additional 1,833,139 shares during the period. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after buying an additional 903,307 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $219.25 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $223.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $198.77. The stock has a market cap of $62.69 billion, a PE ratio of 45.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.