Albert D Mason Inc. Raises Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Albert D Mason Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.8% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,741 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Albert D Mason Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $695,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% in the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $334,394,000 after acquiring an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $270.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.72, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $251.63 and a 200 day moving average of $250.01. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $220.96 and a 52 week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.