Groupama Asset Managment Sells 38,829 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Groupama Asset Managment reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 53.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 38,829 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $254.50 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $256.63 and its 200 day moving average is $250.23. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $72.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.