Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Director Sells $98,250.00 in Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $250.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $71.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $243.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $253.54.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.67.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 71.7% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,382,000. Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth $951,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.7% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 768,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $182,966,000 after acquiring an additional 41,654 shares during the period. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

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.