Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 732 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Ecolab by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,078,000 after purchasing an additional 123,572 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $432,945,000 after buying an additional 41,545 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Ecolab by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after acquiring an additional 85,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after acquiring an additional 155,151 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $233.01 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $233.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. The company’s fifty day moving average is $225.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $204.50.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Barclays raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.