SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Sells 487 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 487 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $920,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $25,000. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.65.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $227.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,068,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,130. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.13, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $224.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $202.54. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.