19,808 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Purchased by Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 19,808 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $5,022,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 98.6% in the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during 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 buying an additional 514,944 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $7.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $263.81. 1,221,133 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,174,709. The stock has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $220.96 and a 52 week high of $273.69. The firm's fifty day moving average is $251.63 and its 200-day moving average is $250.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.33%.

Ecolab 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.