National Pension Service Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Key Points

• National Pension Service increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 11.1%, owning 852,282 shares valued at approximately $216 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Ecolab's recent earnings report revealed $1.89 earnings per share, slightly below the analysts' expectation of $1.90, while revenue met expectations at $4.03 billion for the quarter.
• The company declared a $0.65 quarterly dividend, representing an annualized dividend of $2.60, with a current payout ratio of 34.71%.

National Pension Service lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 11.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 852,282 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 85,488 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.30% of Ecolab worth $216,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $459,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $253,520,000 after acquiring an additional 996,400 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $319,641,000 after acquiring an additional 558,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake 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 worth $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $291.21.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $280.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,428,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,313,211. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $282.67. The firm has a market cap of $79.55 billion, a PE ratio of 37.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.06. The business's 50 day moving average price is $268.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $258.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.