ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 70 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,685 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 70 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $113,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 183.3% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 9,148 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,815,000 after purchasing an additional 5,919 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda raised its position in Ecolab by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 6.1% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,845 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,504,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $259.77 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $261.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $249.44 and a 200-day moving average of $239.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.18 billion, a PE ratio of 48.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.07.

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.