Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Invests $225,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 888 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,658,768,000 after purchasing an additional 105,289 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,231,873,000 after acquiring an additional 91,475 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $936,300,000 after acquiring an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $831,744,000 after acquiring an additional 200,612 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE ECL opened at $268.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $76.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $274.17. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $263.83 and its 200-day moving average is $253.49.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Barclays cut their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Redburn Atlantic lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

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.