Northwest Wealth Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Northwest Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,886 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $732,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Ecolab by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 192,111 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $48,704,000 after purchasing an additional 1,928 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in Ecolab by 89.7% during the 1st quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 11,148 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 5,271 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in Ecolab by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 53,924 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $13,671,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Ecolab by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 495,016 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $125,497,000 after purchasing an additional 34,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $259,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $267.55 on Monday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $258.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $251.25. 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 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The company has a market cap of $75.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 currently 35.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Wall Street Zen raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Five 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.