Albion Financial Group UT Buys 5,271 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Albion Financial Group UT lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 89.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,148 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,271 shares during the quarter. Albion Financial Group UT's holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,826,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 15.6% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,617 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $8,822,000 after acquiring an additional 5,189 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $895,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 104,153 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $24,405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 120,176 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,467,000 after acquiring an additional 19,431 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, 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. Five 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $286.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7%

ECL traded up $1.86 during trading on Thursday, reaching $274.32. 513,655 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,180,271. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $260.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $251.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $274.32. The stock has a market cap of $77.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.03.

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 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 company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.33%.

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.