LVW Advisors LLC Buys 1,561 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

LVW Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 55.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,658,768,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Ecolab by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Ecolab by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $831,744,000 after buying an additional 200,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $265.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $248.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $248.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $220.96 and a 52-week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

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.