Oxford Asset Management LLP Acquires Shares of 989 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $521,399,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 206.7% in 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 last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,422,624 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $333,349,000 after acquiring an additional 333,049 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 target price (down previously from $265.00) on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.33.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed 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 that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were 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 $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $238.08 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $67.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $219.97 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $248.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

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.