Bokf Na increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL – Get Rating) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,240 shares of the basic materials company stock after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the quarter. Bokf Na’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $ 6,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $ 337,443,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,885,247 shares of the basic materials company stock valued at $ 4,430,288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403,200 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ecolab by 316.0% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,107,667 shares of the basic materials company stock valued at $ 259,848,000 after purchasing an additional 841,377 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 45.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,617,347 shares of the basic materials company stock valued at $ 614,003,000 after purchasing an additional 815,142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Liontrust Investment Partners LLP acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $ 161,632,000. Institutional investors own 75.04% of the company stock.
ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $ 191.00 to $ 190.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 27th. Argus cut their price target on Ecolab from $ 230.00 to $ 200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 31st. Atlantic Securities assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 5th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $ 210.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $ 210.00 to $ 196.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 22nd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $ 210.00 to $ 198.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $ 201.06.
NYSE: ECL opened at $ 148.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $ 42.32 billion, a PE ratio of 38.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $ 166.10 and its 200 day moving average is $ 186.39. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $ 143.82 and a 12 month high of $ 238.93.
Ecolab (NYSE: ECL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 26th. The basic materials company reported $ 0.82 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $ 0.82. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.45% and a return on equity of 19.35%. The company had revenue of $ 3.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $ 3.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $ 0.81 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.04 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 21st will be paid a $ 0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 17th. This represents a $ 2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 53.13%.
In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $ 171.01 per share, for a total transaction of $ 102,606.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,351 shares of the company stock, valued at $ 1,941,134.51. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael C. Mccormick sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $ 167.72, for a total transaction of $ 503,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 50,060 shares of the company stock, valued at $ 8,396,063.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Ecolab Profile: (Get Rating)
Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.
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