Greenleaf Trust Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 8.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust's holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $459,676,000 after buying an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $334,394,000 after buying an additional 708,432 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 valued at $319,641,000 after buying an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $268.58 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $76.18 billion, a PE ratio of 36.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $263.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.72. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $274.17. 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 (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Ecolab's payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered 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. Barclays lowered their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.

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