King Luther Capital Management Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 0.2%, selling 2,138 shares and holding a total of 914,509 shares, valued at approximately $231.8 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in Ecolab, with Brighton Jones LLC boosting its stake by 164.7% in the fourth quarter.
• Analysts generally maintain a positive outlook on Ecolab, with an average rating of "Buy" and a target price of $290.71 despite a slight EPS miss in the recent earnings report.

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 914,509 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,138 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises about 1.1% of King Luther Capital Management Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned 0.32% of Ecolab worth $231,846,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% during the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $253,520,000 after buying an additional 996,400 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $79,980,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $290.71.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of ECL traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $273.45. 934,059 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,136,417. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $274.17. The firm's fifty day moving average is $267.38 and its 200-day moving average is $257.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.06.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share 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 paid 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 34.71%.

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.