Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI Sells 2,390 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,770 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,390 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI's holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 14,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 283,748 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $69,978,000 after acquiring an additional 1,614 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $775,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $301,000. Finally, EULAV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 29.2% in the 1st quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 22,100 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,603,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the company's 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 approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of ECL traded down $1.39 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $266.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 953,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,180,627. The company has a 50 day moving average of $263.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $252.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $274.17. The firm has a market cap of $75.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The firm 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 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on ECL shares. Mizuho reduced their price objective 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.00.

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.