AXS Investments LLC Has $1.38 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AXS Investments LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 295 shares during the period. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Syon Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $282,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $393,000. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 7,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 2,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, LGT Group Foundation lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 81.2% during the 3rd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 23,329 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,894,000 after acquiring an additional 10,457 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $239.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.4 %

ECL traded up $1.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $234.15. 180,474 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,158,255. The stock has a market cap of $66.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $236.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $227.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $209.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.