Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,109 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,564,000. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $749,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in Ecolab by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 5,973 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,400,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1%

Ecolab stock opened at $270.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $251.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $250.01. The firm has a market cap of $76.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.13.

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.