Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $24.32 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 105,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,872 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $24,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after acquiring an additional 2,951 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 426.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 18,948 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,210,000 after acquiring an additional 15,347 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Ecolab by 45.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 29,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,002,000 after acquiring an additional 9,264 shares in the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Finally, Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $738,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $239.47 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $68.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.12. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $245.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. The business’s fifty day moving average is $232.92 and its 200-day moving average is $218.82.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $239.56.

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.