Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE Lowers Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,181 shares during the quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Keel Point LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,762,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in Ecolab by 125.8% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Trust Co. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 96,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,142,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $240.66. The stock had a trading volume of 816,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,157,082. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $240.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.74. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $249.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $68.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.