Ulland Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ulland Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 46.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,134 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,898 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,001 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,617 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,822,000 after buying an additional 5,189 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded up $3.05 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $270.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,156,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,172,577. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.72, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The firm's fifty day moving average is $250.81 and its 200 day moving average is $249.85.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its 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 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

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.