LVW Advisors LLC Takes Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

LVW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,298 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $547,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $365,420,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $390,687,000. Findlay Park Partners LLP purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $91,178,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,240,000 after purchasing an additional 305,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1,133.0% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 252,783 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,368,000 after purchasing an additional 232,282 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $270.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.38.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $238.09. The company had a trading volume of 137,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,156,455. The company’s 50-day moving average is $240.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $228.80. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $249.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $67.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.22%.

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.