Advisors Preferred LLC Buys New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $381,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,676,000 after buying an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Ecolab by 27,677.8% during the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $253,520,000 after buying an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $334,394,000 after buying an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 79.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $319,641,000 after buying an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reduced their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $288.33.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $1.47 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $269.97. 1,302,788 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,170,407. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $266.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $255.17. The company has a market capitalization of $76.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.68, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.96 and a 12-month high of $274.17.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.33%.

About Ecolab

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.