Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Holdings Cut by SG Americas Securities LLC

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 8.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 760 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Core Alternative Capital raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 119.2% during the 2nd quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1,406.3% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 56.0% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $160.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $169.00 to $143.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 3rd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $165.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $174.69.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 8th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $139.66 per share, for a total transaction of $111,728.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 12,597 shares in the company, valued at $1,759,297.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $154.43 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.04 and a 52-week high of $221.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $148.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $154.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.98.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 18.10%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 19th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 53.94%.

Ecolab Company Profile

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Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.