Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Has $1.68 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,683,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded up $1.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $221.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,242,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,205,840. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $223.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $200.94. The company has a market capitalization of $63.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.16, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $231.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

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.