US Bancorp DE Sells 28,807 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 2.7% during Q1, owning approximately 1,040,872 shares valued at $263.88 million as of its latest filing.
• Ecolab reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.89, slightly missing analysts' expectations of $1.90, with total revenue matching estimates at $4.03 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 1.0% and a dividend payout ratio of 34.71%.

US Bancorp DE lessened its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,040,872 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 28,807 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE owned about 0.37% of Ecolab worth $263,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 176.7% in the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 70.6% in the first quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC now owns 145 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $290.71.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE ECL traded up $3.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $264.06. The company had a trading volume of 709,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,325,802. The company has a market capitalization of $74.90 billion, a PE ratio of 35.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $266.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.73. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $221.62 and a twelve month high of $274.17.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 34.71%.

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.