Korea Investment CORP Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Korea Investment CORP lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 48.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 232,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 75,707 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.08% of Ecolab worth $38,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abbrea Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 7,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,282,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Angela M. Busch sold 3,460 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total transaction of $629,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,581,760. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Angela M. Busch sold 3,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.00, for a total value of $629,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,581,760. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $183.73 per share, with a total value of $119,424.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,071 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,768,994.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,568 shares of company stock worth $5,008,604 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $200.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $172.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $192.43.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $183.87 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $183.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.67. The stock has a market cap of $52.41 billion, a PE ratio of 44.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.04 and a 1 year high of $191.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.03. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.33% and a net margin of 7.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 18th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 51.58%.

Ecolab Company Profile

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.