AMI Asset Management Corp Purchases Shares of 113,034 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AMI Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 113,034 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,656,000. Ecolab comprises about 1.7% of AMI Asset Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% during the 1st quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:ECL opened at $266.59 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $256.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.22, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

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.