Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 245 shares during the period. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after acquiring an additional 304,402 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,215,000 after acquiring an additional 91,547 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,149,000 after acquiring an additional 43,553 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at about $390,687,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.7 %

Ecolab stock opened at $249.19 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $253.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $71.16 billion, a PE ratio of 46.15, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $242.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $234.31.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business’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 $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Six 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $254.67.

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.