MJP Associates Inc. ADV Buys 94 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ECL. United Bank boosted its stake in Ecolab by 2.7% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 4,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.6% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 23.0% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 6.7% in the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its position in Ecolab by 17.1% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,920,000 after purchasing an additional 10,676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Ecolab from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ecolab from $220.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $222.19.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of ECL traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $230.90. 819,493 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,226,363. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $215.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.38. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $231.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.21, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

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.