Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases 44 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,059,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,194,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 283,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,653,000 after purchasing an additional 24,910 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $271.80.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $253.49 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $72.13 billion, a PE ratio of 42.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $240.79. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 38.26%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.