Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 65.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,531 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 135.6% during the fourth quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1,189.5% during the fourth quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $36,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 39.8% during the third quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.
Ecolab Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $173.67 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $163.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $131.04 and a one year high of $179.76. The company has a market capitalization of $49.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.00.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.05% and a net margin of 7.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.48%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Ecolab from $175.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Ecolab from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $155.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ecolab from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Ecolab from $163.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $178.20.
Insider Transactions at Ecolab
In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total transaction of $717,631.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,027,423.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total transaction of $717,631.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,442 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,027,423.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christophe Beck sold 34,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.48, for a total value of $5,976,386.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,201,899.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Ecolab
Ecolab, Inc engages in the provision of products and services in the field of water, hygiene, and energy. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Energy & Life Science, and Other. The Global Industrial segment consists of the water, food and beverage, paper, and downstream operating segments.
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