J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases 6,715 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 85.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,543 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,715 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,676,000 after buying an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Winslow Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% in the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $319,641,000 after purchasing an additional 558,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Five equities research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $288.33.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $268.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $76.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $274.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $264.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $254.44.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The firm's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

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