Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Purchases New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 26,175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,636,000. Ecolab accounts for about 0.8% of Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,414,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Ecolab by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in Ecolab by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,822,000 after acquiring an additional 5,189 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.6%

NYSE:ECL opened at $263.81 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $220.96 and a 52 week high of $273.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $252.41 and a 200 day moving average of $250.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

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.