Webster Bank N. A. Sells 399 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Webster Bank N. A. decreased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,348 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 399 shares during the quarter. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after buying an additional 903,307 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19,062.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after buying an additional 552,992 shares during the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $1.55 on Friday, reaching $238.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,806,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,723. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $245.93. The company has a market cap of $67.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50 day moving average is $233.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.27.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired 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 directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Eleven research 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $239.56.

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.