Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,362 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE:ECL opened at $272.83 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $274.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $267.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.72.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 34.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $290.71.

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.