Hexagon Capital Partners LLC Raises Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 83.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 248 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,240,000 after buying an additional 305,039 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $449,215,000 after acquiring an additional 91,547 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after purchasing an additional 155,151 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $365,420,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $282,185,000 after purchasing an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $235.44 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.23 billion, a PE ratio of 43.60, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $233.72 and its 200 day moving average is $219.60. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $245.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup increased their target price on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price target on Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

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.