74,381 Shares in Ecolab Inc. $ECL Purchased by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 74,381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,424,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Stevens Capital Partners bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth $269,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 3.5% during the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 659,235 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $181,013,000 after acquiring an additional 22,263 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 12.7% during the third quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 11,180 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,263 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 2.2% during the third quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 29,375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,066,000 after acquiring an additional 636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% in the third quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $270,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird set a $305.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecolab from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $344.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total value of $5,003,860.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,431,170.48. This trade represents a 19.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $308.48 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $282.55 and a 200 day moving average of $276.31. The stock has a market cap of $86.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.97, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $243.15 and a 52-week high of $310.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 11.99%. The business had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a $0.73 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.73%.

Ecolab Profile

Ecolab Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning solutions for businesses and institutions. The company helps customers manage water and energy use, maintain sanitary operations, protect food supplies and comply with health and safety standards.

Ecolab serves customers across industries including food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, institutional facilities and energy. Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, water-treatment and process-management systems, pest-control services, kitchen and housekeeping products, infection-prevention programs, and related equipment, training and consulting services.

Founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, the company has expanded from its original focus on cleaning products into a broad range of technology-enabled services and solutions.