Certuity LLC Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Certuity LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 511.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,169 shares during the period. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in Ecolab by 527.9% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,438,000 after purchasing an additional 73,913 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,933,000 after purchasing an additional 62,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 27,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,525,000 after purchasing an additional 8,220 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $245.05 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $253.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $69.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $242.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.98.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.