Knuff & Co LLC Makes New $40,000 Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 2,805.1% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 38,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,635,000 after buying an additional 37,167 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,051 shares during the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 526.2% during the 4th quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,338,000 after acquiring an additional 9,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,040,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $227.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,068,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,224,187. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $224.62 and a 200-day moving average of $202.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. Ecolab’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 company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.