Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,191 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $89,000. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 32,335 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,198,000 after acquiring an additional 3,489 shares during the period. TT International Asset Management LTD acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $836,000. Finally, Echo Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 17.4% during the first quarter. Echo Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 250 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 analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays cut 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, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.13.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded up $4.30 during trading on Friday, hitting $267.55. The company had a trading volume of 4,148,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,180,811. The business has a 50 day moving average of $257.45 and a 200 day moving average of $251.05. The firm has a market capitalization 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. 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 fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. Ecolab's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

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.