D.A. Davidson & CO. Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 89,251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 9,396 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $22,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position 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 valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 176.7% in the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of ECL opened at $272.38 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $77.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $274.02. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $260.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.68.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 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.