First Pacific Financial Increases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

First Pacific Financial increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.3% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the quarter. First Pacific Financial’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during 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. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,215,000 after buying an additional 91,547 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Ecolab by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after buying an additional 155,151 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $365,420,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $390,687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.00.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE ECL traded up $1.55 on Monday, hitting $242.21. 749,048 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,154,515. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $240.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $249.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

About Ecolab

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.