Buffington Mohr McNeal Cuts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Buffington Mohr McNeal decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 31,527 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 539 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up approximately 1.3% of Buffington Mohr McNeal’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverwater Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $1.75 on Tuesday, reaching $220.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 470,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,196,327. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.36, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $221.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $198.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

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.