Capital Investment Advisors LLC Has $495,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 128.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,954 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $80,564,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $749,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $269.44 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.51, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $250.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.72.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong 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 $283.13.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is 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.