Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Increases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 27.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,231 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $80,564,000. Longboard Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $207,000. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB now owns 11,450 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Finally, Sargent Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 1,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $267.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.23, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $249.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.04. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.96 and a 12-month high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup cut their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.13.

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.