First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA Has $736,000 Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $521,399,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 98.6% in the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $334,394,000 after buying an additional 708,432 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in Ecolab by 206.7% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Ecolab by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $936,300,000 after acquiring an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $236.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $67.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $253.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.84. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.00.

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.