AGF Management Ltd. Sells 8,346 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• AGF Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in Ecolab Inc. by 9.4% in the first quarter, owning 80,857 shares worth approximately $20.5 million after selling 8,346 shares.
• Ecolab's recent quarterly earnings reported an EPS of $1.89, slightly missing analysts' expectations of $1.90, with a revenue of $4.03 billion.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $2.60, with a current dividend yield of 1.0%.

AGF Management Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 9.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 80,857 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,346 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $20,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $459,676,000 after buying an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake 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 valued at $253,520,000 after buying an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $319,641,000 after buying an additional 558,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. Barclays decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $291.21.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $0.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $280.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,245,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,309,435. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $281.96. The business's 50-day moving average price is $268.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $258.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.65 billion, a PE ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.06.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 34.71%.

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.