New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Purchases 39,110 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 103.6%, owning 76,876 shares after acquiring an additional 39,110 shares, making Ecolab its 8th largest holding.
• Ecolab reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of $1.89, slightly below analysts' expectations of $1.90, while revenue matched forecasts at $4.03 billion.
$0.65 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.0%, with a payout ratio of 34.71%.

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 103.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,876 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 39,110 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 0.9% of New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $19,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,036,485,000 after acquiring an additional 93,409 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $831,744,000 after acquiring an additional 200,612 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,993,504 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $701,438,000 after acquiring an additional 165,949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,517,118 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $589,811,000 after acquiring an additional 12,911 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded up $0.91 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $269.70. 632,626 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,159,142. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $257.29. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $221.62 and a 1-year high of $274.17. The company has a market cap of $76.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.01, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $290.71.

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.