Benjamin Edwards Inc. Has $161,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 17.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 812 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $161,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 118,498 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370 shares during the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 26,289 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,228,000 after buying an additional 2,960 shares during the last quarter. FFT Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $246,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,052 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $804,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $252,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $227.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.13, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $224.62 and its 200-day moving average is $202.96. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Ecolab Company 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.