Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 61.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,355 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% during the second quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,424,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded down $2.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $239.30. 497,774 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,158,688. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $249.00. The stock has a market cap of $68.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $240.42 and its 200 day moving average is $229.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $250.38.

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.