Atlas Private Wealth Management raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 5.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,845 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Management's holdings in Ecolab were worth $899,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. US Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter worth $25,000. O Dell Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 62.1% in the 1st quarter. O Dell Group LLC now owns 188 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Citizens National Bank Trust Department acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Intelligent Financial Strategies acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 87.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $190.00 in a report on Thursday, July 14th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Ecolab to $198.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $200.00 to $181.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, June 3rd. They set a "hold" rating and a $191.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Argus dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $193.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded down $2.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $143.70. The stock had a trading volume of 25,976 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,156,205. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.51. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $143.82 and a 52 week high of $238.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 26th. The basic materials company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.48 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 8.17%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 19th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.13%.

Ecolab Company Profile

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Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.

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