PGGM Investments Acquires 11,149 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

PGGM Investments grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 42.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,416 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 11,149 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 968.5% during the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 3,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $838,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,355 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its stake in Ecolab by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 33,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,079,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Maia Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $636,000. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in Ecolab by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,641 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 approximately $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $239.88. The stock had a trading volume of 208,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,154,953. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $240.42 and a 200-day moving average of $229.18. 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 company has a market capitalization of $68.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $249.00.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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

Ecolab Company 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.