AMF Tjanstepension AB Has $13.82 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AMF Tjanstepension AB trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 41.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 42,462 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $13,816,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 31.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 521,488 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,340,000 after purchasing an additional 125,800 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 4.1% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 135,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,036,000 after buying an additional 5,382 shares during the last quarter. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 37.9% during the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 112,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,042,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $238.00 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $245.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $233.72 and a 200-day moving average of $219.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $67.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.12.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by 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.