Meeder Asset Management Inc. Buys Shares of 138 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $390,687,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 305,039 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 136.0% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 359,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $85,467,000 after acquiring an additional 206,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Ecolab by 65.9% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 474,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,583,000 after purchasing an additional 188,455 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $250.54 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $253.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $243.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 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 business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. UBS Group cut their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.67.

About Ecolab

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.