One Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

One Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 73,913 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,933,000 after acquiring an additional 62,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 stock was acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.73.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.7 %

ECL opened at $248.61 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.00 billion, a PE ratio of 46.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day moving average of $244.09 and a 200-day moving average of $235.56. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $253.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 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.