Edgestream Partners L.P. Increases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 964.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,289 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,195 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,305,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 73,913 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,933,000 after acquiring an additional 62,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.73.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of ECL opened at $250.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $253.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $243.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $235.47.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The firm’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 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.