Country Trust Bank Reduces Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Country Trust Bank reduced its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 72.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $36,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,338,000 after acquiring an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ECL traded up $0.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $237.94. 804,979 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,166,224. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $249.00. The stock has a market cap of $67.95 billion, a PE ratio of 44.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $249.13.

Ecolab Company 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.