Boomfish Wealth Group LLC Sells 179 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Boomfish Wealth Group LLC lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 150.0% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Motco acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2,042.9% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ECL traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $240.66. 816,703 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,157,082. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a PE ratio of 44.57, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $249.00.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded 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 note on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

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.