Sound Income Strategies LLC Has $57,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4,840.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 117.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 19,062.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after acquiring an additional 552,992 shares in the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 1.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,875,434,000 after acquiring an additional 387,545 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ECL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus increased 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, Citigroup increased their target price on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.56.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $240.68 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $245.93. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $232.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $218.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.57, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.12.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.