American Century Companies Inc. Buys 24,648 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,648 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Ecolab worth $326,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after purchasing an additional 73,913 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,933,000 after purchasing an additional 62,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 27,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,525,000 after purchasing an additional 8,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

ECL stock opened at $249.42 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $253.54. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $243.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The company 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%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.