LS Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

LS Investment Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 334 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises approximately 2.6% of LS Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 546.4% in the second quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 627 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,513 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 66.4% during the 2nd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,818 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 19.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 16,835 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,007,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720 shares during the period. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $407,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $248.70. The stock had a trading volume of 750,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,138,317. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $240.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.87. The company has a market capitalization of $71.02 billion, a PE ratio of 46.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $249.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

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.