Boston Trust Walden Corp Has $4.75 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Boston Trust Walden Corp cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,729 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in 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 valued at $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Ecolab by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $831,744,000 after purchasing an additional 200,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3%

Ecolab stock opened at $261.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $255.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.59. The company has a market cap of $74.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.