Insider Buying: Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Director Purchases 650 Shares of Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $4.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $233.01. 1,218,092 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,210,443. The company has a market capitalization of $66.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $233.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. 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, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after purchasing an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 19,062.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after purchasing an additional 552,992 shares in the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.