Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Purchases 995 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 995 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 4,149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,172 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,920,000 after purchasing an additional 10,676 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $219.25 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $231.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $223.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $198.77. The company has a market cap of $62.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.77, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

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.