Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC Has $467,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC cut its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 74 shares during the quarter. Burns Matteson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,423,116,000 after purchasing an additional 304,402 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Ecolab by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after purchasing an additional 122,715 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,149,000 after purchasing an additional 43,553 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $390,687,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after purchasing an additional 24,648 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.07.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $1.80 during trading on Friday, reaching $254.00. The company had a trading volume of 726,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,096,758. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $258.00. The stock has a market cap of $72.27 billion, a PE ratio of 42.61, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $247.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $238.75.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.