Boomfish Wealth Group LLC Sells 179 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Boomfish Wealth Group LLC trimmed its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 179 shares during the period. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased 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 increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the fourth 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 lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $250.00.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $240.66. 816,703 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,157,082. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.57, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $249.00. The company’s 50-day moving average is $240.44 and its 200-day moving average is $229.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.50.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid 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 (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.