Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 338,584 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Brown Advisory Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,784,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 338,584 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 0.63% of Ecolab worth $418,170,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $521,399,000. Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 708,432 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased 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 valued at $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,564,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.0 %

ECL opened at $255.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $248.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $247.79. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $273.69. The stock has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Barclays reduced their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.47.

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.