Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 135.6% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 1,189.5% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Ecolab Trading Up 2.2 %
Ecolab stock traded up $3.79 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $172.91. The stock had a trading volume of 480,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,097,362. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $167.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.76. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.04 and a twelve month high of $179.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $49.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.00.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.02. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 18.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 52.48%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, SVP Gail Peterson sold 934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $163,450.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $274,225. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Gail Peterson sold 934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $163,450.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $274,225. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Angela M. Busch sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $525,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,680 shares in the company, valued at $3,444,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,482 shares of company stock worth $6,856,986 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $167.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $163.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.64.
Ecolab Company Profile
(Get Rating)
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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