Aua Capital Management LLC Sells 250 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Aua Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,307 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. Aua Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $244,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 2,828.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 205 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. 73.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $183.73 per share, with a total value of $119,424.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,768,994.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.8 %

ECL traded down $1.35 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $176.61. 41,461 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,084,481. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.01. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.04 and a 1-year high of $191.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $183.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.66. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.86 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.33% and a net margin of 7.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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 $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 51.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $186.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $194.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday. TheStreet upgraded Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $213.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $193.86.

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.