LRI Investments LLC Purchases 1,834 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1,368.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the quarter. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,424,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $1.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $247.23. 538,404 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,143,449. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $249.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $240.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

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.