Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,323 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $13,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 42.0% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 5,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $995,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. Team Hewins LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $215,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,543,000 after buying an additional 535 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 758,882 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $150,563,000 after acquiring an additional 60,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peak Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,424,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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 investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $262.21.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of ECL opened at $254.92 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $255.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $244.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $236.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.