Boston Common Asset Management LLC Sells 33,977 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 37.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,611 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 33,977 shares during the quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $13,031,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 12.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 714,702 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $170,110,000 after purchasing an additional 78,721 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $207,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 22.3% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $759,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.4% during the second quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 34,079 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,111,000 after acquiring an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co lifted its stake in Ecolab by 59.3% in the second quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 6,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,550,000 after acquiring an additional 2,424 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on ECL shares. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.47.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:ECL traded up $1.11 on Friday, reaching $240.26. 194,826 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,035,063. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $68.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $195.49 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $242.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.51.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.