Sowell Financial Services LLC Invests $765,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $765,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its stake in Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $260.14 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $73.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $254.14 and a 200-day moving average of $250.42.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.33%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. 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.