Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 46,579 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,560,214 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 46,579 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.55% of Ecolab worth $395,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 4,145 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $971,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 20.2% during the first quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 298 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded down $1.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $266.82. 953,739 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,347,156. 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 $75.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $263.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.72. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve 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 for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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 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%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought 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 directly owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $287.00.

Ecolab 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.