IFM Investors Pty Ltd Buys 962 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 56,530 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $14,434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 176.7% in the 1st quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7%

Ecolab stock opened at $274.32 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $274.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $261.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $252.05. The company has a market capitalization of $77.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.47.

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.