Arvest Investments Inc. Sells 64 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Arvest Investments Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. Arvest Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 19,062.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 552,992 shares during the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after purchasing an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Raymond James upped their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.56.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $235.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.68, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $245.93. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $234.36 and a 200 day moving average of $220.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company 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.