NBC Securities Inc. Acquires 40 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the quarter. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.07.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $257.07 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $249.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $239.51. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $73.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $261.54.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.