ICW Investment Advisors LLC Buys 138 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,106,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 249,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $42,214,000 after acquiring an additional 23,700 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 38,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,561,000 after acquiring an additional 6,078 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $281,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 63.7% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 168,979 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,625,000 after acquiring an additional 65,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3 %

ECL traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $225.45. 330,608 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,209,253. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.46 billion, a PE ratio of 46.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $224.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $202.21. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.59.

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.