Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. Acquires 200 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,522 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after acquiring an additional 304,402 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after purchasing an additional 122,715 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,149,000 after buying an additional 43,553 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $390,687,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $326,626,000 after buying an additional 24,648 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $253.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.26 billion, a PE ratio of 42.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $258.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $247.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $238.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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 business had revenue of $3.99 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 38.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.07.

About Ecolab

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.