Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,947 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 683 shares during the quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc boosted its stake in Ecolab by 1.6% during the second quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $676,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Peak Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,424,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:ECL traded up $3.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $246.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 662,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,149,882. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $249.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $240.64 and a 200-day moving average of $230.67.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders 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 0.93%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.