Impax Asset Management Group plc reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 625,384 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 27,993 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned 0.22% of Ecolab worth $158,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $126,000. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 19,002 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $286.47.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Ecolab
Ecolab Stock Up 0.7%
NYSE ECL opened at $274.32 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock's 50 day moving average is $261.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $252.05. The company has a market capitalization of $77.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.03. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 company 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 company's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 35.33%.
Insider Activity at Ecolab
In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.
About Ecolab
(
Free Report)
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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