Cullen Investment Group LTD. Takes $825,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,255 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $825,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,231,873,000 after buying an additional 91,475 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Ecolab by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $936,300,000 after buying an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $831,744,000 after acquiring an additional 200,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

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

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded down $2.63 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $262.99. The company had a trading volume of 261,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,167,967. The company has a market capitalization of $74.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $248.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $248.65. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ECL. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Company 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.