1,968 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Acquired by LRI Investments LLC

LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2,805.1% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 38,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,635,000 after buying an additional 37,167 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,051 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $749,000. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership boosted its position in Ecolab by 526.2% during the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.06.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock traded up $1.58 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $245.24. The stock had a trading volume of 848,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 898,611. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $239.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $225.74. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $248.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Ecolab’s dividend 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.