Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Buys 597 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,193 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 597 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $13,850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $390,687,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,240,000 after purchasing an additional 305,039 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 136.0% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 359,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $85,467,000 after buying an additional 206,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 65.9% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 474,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $109,583,000 after buying an additional 188,455 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $250.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $243.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $253.57.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.73.

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.