Alta Advisers Ltd Invests $332,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Alta Advisers Ltd purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,309 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,051,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,917 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $919,000 after buying an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of ECL stock traded up $1.86 on Thursday, hitting $274.32. The company had a trading volume of 513,655 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,182,279. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $274.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $77.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50-day moving average is $260.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $251.68.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The company's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays reduced their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $286.47.

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.