Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Has $232,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 6.2% during the second quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 18,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,104 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 116,361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,694,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.0% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 5,751 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,369,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL traded up $3.98 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $246.55. 662,242 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,149,882. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $249.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.56. The firm has a market cap of $70.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.