Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Purchased by Northwest Investment Counselors LLC

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,242 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 13.3% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abbrea Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 7,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,282,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. 73.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 4th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $194.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ecolab from $172.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Northcoast Research cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.86.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $177.96. The company had a trading volume of 3,205,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,090,387. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.04 and a 52 week high of $191.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $183.64 and a 200-day moving average of $174.55. The firm has a market cap of $50.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.30, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 18th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 51.58%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $183.73 per share, for a total transaction of $119,424.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,768,994.83. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab 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.