Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Holdings Cut by First Hawaiian Bank

First Hawaiian Bank lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 13.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,117 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 15.6% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after buying an additional 2,203 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 14.5% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 18,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,202,000 after buying an additional 2,393 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,154,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,942,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.2% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 687,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $116,433,000 after buying an additional 229,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Ecolab stock opened at $243.29 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $245.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $69.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.12. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $230.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.02.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ECL. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

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.