SVB Wealth LLC Sells 601 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SVB Wealth LLC lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 601 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 420,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $97,020,000 after buying an additional 2,075 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $598,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $456,000. Linscomb Wealth Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 10,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,484,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday, July 11th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $2.68 during trading on Monday, reaching $247.92. 1,121,603 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,139,605. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $239.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $225.94. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $249.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.80 billion, a PE ratio of 45.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.