LRI Investments LLC Buys New Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 10,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 143,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,889 shares in the last quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA bought a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter worth approximately $768,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 6.6% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.4% in the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Raymond James increased their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $1.58 on Friday, reaching $245.24. 848,665 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 898,611. 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 stock has a market cap of $70.03 billion, a PE ratio of 45.41, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $239.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.74. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $248.60.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.