Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 10,913 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. by 4.0%, owning approximately 0.10% of the company valued at $71.89 million after acquiring an additional 10,913 shares in the first quarter.
• Numerous institutional investors have significantly boosted their stakes in Ecolab, with notable increases from GAMMA Investing LLC (27,182.2%) and Auto Owners Insurance Co. (27,677.8%).
• Ecolab reported a quarterly earnings miss of $1.89 per share, slightly below analyst estimates of $1.90, while announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.65 to be paid on October 15th.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 284,865 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 10,913 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.10% of Ecolab worth $71,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 9,309 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,181,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 15,039 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536 shares during the period. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $308,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ECL. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $295.00 target price (up previously from $293.00) on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $291.21.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $0.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $280.85. The company had a trading volume of 1,250,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,312,442. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $281.96. The firm has a market cap of $79.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.88 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $268.16 and a 200-day moving average of $258.47.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.71%.

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.