HC Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 1,049 Ecolab Inc. $ECL

HC Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 1,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 valued at $459,676,000 after buying an additional 1,806,529 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $337,563,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the 1st quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $253,520,000 after buying an additional 996,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 558,947 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.1%

ECL opened at $280.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $79.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.06. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $282.67. The business’s 50 day moving average is $268.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 807 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.28, for a total value of $225,378.96. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 4,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,208,165.28. The trade was a 15.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 20,253 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,640,663.03. This represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Baird R W upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $291.21.

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.