Dudley & Shanley Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Dudley & Shanley Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for 3.8% of Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Dudley & Shanley Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $24,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 0.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $981,007,000 after acquiring an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $608,851,000 after acquiring an additional 122,715 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after purchasing an additional 24,648 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ECL. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.60.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.8 %

Ecolab stock traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $232.70. The stock had a trading volume of 299,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 600,628. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $65.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.46 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $245.24 and a 200 day moving average of $246.05.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.