ICW Investment Advisors LLC Sells 152 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

ICW Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 152 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $254.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

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

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $246.66. The company had a trading volume of 34,490 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,124,091. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $242.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.65. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $253.54. The company has a market capitalization of $70.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 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 results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors 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 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio 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.