Davis R M Inc. Sells 3,581 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Davis R M Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 110,366 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,581 shares during the quarter. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $27,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,036,485,000 after buying an additional 93,409 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Ecolab by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $831,744,000 after buying an additional 200,612 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,993,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,438,000 after acquiring an additional 165,949 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $263.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.12, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $274.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $266.72 and a 200 day moving average of $256.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were 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 directly owned 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays dropped their target price 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, Baird R W upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.47.

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.