Stevens Capital Management LP Invests $464,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• Stevens Capital Management LP acquired 1,829 shares of Ecolab Inc., valued at approximately $464,000, during the first quarter of the year.
• Several analysts have upgraded Ecolab's stock ratings, with price targets ranging from $275.00 to $325.00, indicating a generally positive outlook for the company.
• Ecolab recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65, resulting in an annual yield of 0.96% and a dividend payout ratio of 35.33%.

Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,829 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in Ecolab by 1.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 205,477 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $48,148,000 after acquiring an additional 8,226 shares during the last quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. increased its position in Ecolab by 87.9% during the fourth quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 1,473 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Ecolab by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 418,285 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $97,013,000 after acquiring an additional 18,967 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Mizuho upped 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $290.13.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $5.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $264.79. The stock had a trading volume of 590,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,326,888. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.96, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $274.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $266.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $256.04.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.