Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 182.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,362 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,637 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up approximately 1.2% of Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its position in Ecolab by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 205,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $48,148,000 after purchasing an additional 8,226 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,061,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $367,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Mizuho increased their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Five investment 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $288.33.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:ECL traded up $2.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $271.93. The stock had a trading volume of 972,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,147,949. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $266.29 and a 200 day moving average of $255.17. The company has a market capitalization of $77.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $274.17.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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.