Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 96 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $294,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $676,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 42.1% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $990,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% in the second quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 6,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor OS LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised 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 note on Monday, July 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $254.67.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $249.42 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $71.23 billion, a PE ratio of 46.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $243.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $234.61. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $253.54.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.