Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $108.95 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sarasin & Partners LLP trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 40.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 457,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 308,887 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP owned 0.16% of Ecolab worth $108,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Motco bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 2,042.9% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $240.66. 816,703 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,157,082. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $249.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a PE ratio of 44.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $240.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

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.