Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Sells 212 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,658 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 212 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,641,000 after acquiring an additional 558,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $269.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $264.65 and its 200 day moving average is $253.90. The stock has a market cap of $76.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $274.17.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 currently 35.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.