DSM Capital Partners LLC Takes $37,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $393,000. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 23.3% in the third quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 7,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.2% in the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 2,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 11.9% in the third quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 3,239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $418,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL traded up $1.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $234.31. 541,756 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,019,005. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $236.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $210.43.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Profile

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.