MJP Associates Inc. ADV Increases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,931 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2,805.1% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 38,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,635,000 after purchasing an additional 37,167 shares during the period. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,129,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $749,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,338,000 after acquiring an additional 9,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $0.78 on Friday, reaching $237.94. 804,979 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,166,224. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.95 billion, a PE ratio of 44.06, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $249.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $240.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $228.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ECL. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $249.13.

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.