Ulland Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ulland Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 46.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,134 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,195 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $749,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays cut their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5%

ECL opened at $267.89 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $75.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $250.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $249.85.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

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.