Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,520 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $600,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 84.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% in the fourth 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 stake in Ecolab by 5.9% in 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 worth $223,933,000 after purchasing an additional 62,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 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 lowered their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.73.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $253.25 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $253.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $72.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $243.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.29.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.