1,075 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Bought by Invesco LLC

Invesco LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,129,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares during the period. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 526.2% in the 4th quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,338,000 after buying an additional 9,695 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $35,040,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 39.6% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,128,000 after buying an additional 47,351 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECL. UBS Group increased their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James increased their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $219.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $62.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.73, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $231.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $221.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $198.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

About Ecolab

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.