Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,310 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 303,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,310 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises about 3.6% of Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $76,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after purchasing an additional 105,289 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the fourth 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 period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $831,744,000 after purchasing an additional 200,612 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $266.13 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $253.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $250.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.48 billion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for 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%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five 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. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.