Everpar Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Everpar Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 233 shares during the quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 120,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,467,000 after purchasing an additional 19,431 shares during the last quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $6,636,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 15.8% during the 1st quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $263.81 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $252.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.13. The company has a market capitalization of $74.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. 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 fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho cut their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup cut their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.13.

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.