Bath Savings Trust Co Has $12.97 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bath Savings Trust Co cut its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,479 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 13,207 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for about 1.5% of Bath Savings Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Toroso Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.2% in the first quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 17,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,820,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 184.7% in the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 31,989 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,295,000 after acquiring an additional 20,753 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 16,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,665,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 786,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $130,199,000 after acquiring an additional 14,653 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $421,000. 73.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. TheStreet raised shares of Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $172.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $200.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, September 1st. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.86.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $1.58 on Monday, hitting $176.38. The company had a trading volume of 297,719 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,085,801. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.01. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.04 and a twelve month 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 50-day moving average of $183.64 and a 200-day moving average of $174.66.

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. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 18.33%. The business 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 posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,768,994.83. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

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.