CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $61.04 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 29.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 264,294 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 110,860 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $61,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. Motco acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 2,042.9% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price objective 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. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.06.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

ECL stock traded down $1.29 on Wednesday, hitting $245.43. 1,228,359 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,143,050. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $248.41. The stock has a market cap of $70.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $239.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $225.07.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.