Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 471 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 336,749 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 471 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Ecolab worth $80,146,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $91,178,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $4,598,240,000 after buying an additional 305,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings 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 worth $58,368,000 after buying an additional 232,282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $242.38. The company had a trading volume of 900,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,152,930. The stock has a market cap of $69.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.85, 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.26. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $249.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.94%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.