OFI Invest Asset Management Grows Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

OFI Invest Asset Management boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Motco acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 2,042.9% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ECL stock traded up $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $240.66. 816,703 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,157,082. The stock has a market cap of $68.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.57, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.74. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $249.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

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.