Greenleaf Trust Acquires 1,187 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Greenleaf Trust raised its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 8.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure 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 period. Greenleaf Trust's holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% during the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $287.00.

Insider Activity

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 owned 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. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:ECL traded down $1.39 on Thursday, reaching $266.82. 953,740 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,179,288. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50 day moving average is $263.04 and its 200-day moving average is $252.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $274.17.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

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.