CNB Bank Acquires 243 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

CNB Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,355 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the quarter. CNB Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Ecolab by 20.8% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the period. &PARTNERS acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at about $228,000. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $208,000. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its position in Ecolab by 20.2% during the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 8,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perkins Coie Trust Co increased its stake in Ecolab by 6.1% during the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 12,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,833,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $271.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $261.46 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.67 billion, a PE ratio of 48.42, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $250.32 and its 200-day moving average is $239.83.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend 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.