Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lessened its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2,805.1% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 38,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,635,000 after buying an additional 37,167 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,129,000 after buying an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $749,000. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership raised its stake in Ecolab by 526.2% in the 4th quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Raymond James raised their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $239.56.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

ECL stock traded down $1.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $239.47. 687,607 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,171,770. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $232.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $218.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $245.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.