S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 14,128 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,582,000.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $253,520,000 after purchasing an additional 996,400 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 79.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased 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 valued at $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $291.21.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Ecolab
Ecolab Stock Up 0.3%
ECL stock traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $280.85. 1,250,289 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,181,101. The company has a market cap of $79.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $268.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $258.47. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $281.96.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is 34.71%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total transaction of $225,378.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 4,326 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,208,165.28. This represents a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $278.51 per share, with a total value of $167,106.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 20,253 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.
Ecolab Profile
(
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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