Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 186.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,993 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after purchasing an additional 304,402 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Ecolab by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,215,000 after purchasing an additional 91,547 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Ecolab by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $367,965,000 after purchasing an additional 155,151 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price target on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $3.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $246.45. 662,242 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,149,882. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $240.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $70.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $249.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.