Capital Investment Services of America Inc. Has $24.06 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Capital Investment Services of America Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,433 shares during the quarter. Ecolab accounts for approximately 2.6% of Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Capital Investment Services of America Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $24,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Robbins Farley purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Live Oak Investment Partners purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Tsfg LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 2,828.6% in the second quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 205 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $183.73 per share, for a total transaction of $119,424.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 15,071 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,768,994.83. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on Ecolab from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. TheStreet upgraded Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Northcoast Research cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ecolab from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.86.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $177.96. 3,205,275 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,090,387. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.04 and a 1-year high of $191.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.30, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $183.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.55.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 18th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.