Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,068 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Transform Wealth LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 1,116 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management boosted its stake in Ecolab by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 40,910 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $231,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 4,840.0% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $239.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $1.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $238.00. 1,794,245 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,176,790. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $232.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $218.82. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $245.93. The firm has a market cap of $67.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.12.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. 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.