Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Key Points

• Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 5.9%, now holding 33,916 shares valued at approximately $8.6 million.
• The company has received several upgrades from analysts, with Baird R W raising its rating from "hold" to "strong-buy", while the average target price for the stock has been set at $290.71.
• Ecolab recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, which translates to an annual yield of 1.0%, based on a payout ratio of 34.71%.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,916 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,127 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after acquiring an additional 93,409 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position 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 valued at $831,744,000 after acquiring an additional 200,612 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $689,154,000 after acquiring an additional 173,298 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $290.71.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1%

ECL stock opened at $272.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.43, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $274.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $267.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.62.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.71%.

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.

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