OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 154,806 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 9,764 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for about 1.1% of OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd owned approximately 0.05% of Ecolab worth $39,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,051,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $501,000. World Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 17,361 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,068,000 after acquiring an additional 4,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 870 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ECL. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays dropped 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. Finally, Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $290.71.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on ECL
Ecolab Stock Up 1.2%
Shares of ECL stock traded up $3.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $264.06. 716,935 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,185,174. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $266.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $256.73. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $274.17. The company has a market cap of $74.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.06.
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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. On average, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. 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 1.0%. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 34.71%.
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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