Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) is LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s 7th Largest Position

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 94,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,892 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for about 2.8% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $18,768,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors raised its holdings in Ecolab by 3.6% in the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 1,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. GS Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,717,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 3.6% during the third quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Linscomb & Williams Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 0.7% in the third quarter. Linscomb & Williams Inc. now owns 10,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,754,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on Ecolab from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $222.19.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Ecolab stock traded down $1.35 during trading on Thursday, reaching $230.41. 226,483 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,222,986. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.11. The company has a market capitalization of $65.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.20, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

Ecolab Company 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.