Telos Capital Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 995 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Telos Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 995 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,051,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $39,204,000. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,383 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 2,963 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $694,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ECL. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays decreased 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $287.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased 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 owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $267.09. 966,348 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,180,551. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $263.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.10. 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 $274.17. The firm has a market cap of $75.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.29, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Ecolab's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

About Ecolab

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.