Toronto Dominion Bank Cuts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Toronto Dominion Bank trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 12.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 126,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 17,769 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $30,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after buying an additional 73,913 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,933,000 after buying an additional 62,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 50.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.21.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $254.82 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.19, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $255.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $244.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.45.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

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.