Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Purchases 2,131 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 37.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,764 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,131 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $365,420,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $390,687,000. Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $91,178,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,240,000 after purchasing an additional 305,039 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1,133.0% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 252,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,368,000 after purchasing an additional 232,282 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock 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 upped their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $241.67. The stock had a trading volume of 349,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,152,002. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $249.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.01 billion, a PE ratio of 44.57, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $240.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.96.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.