Profund Advisors LLC Sells 385 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Profund Advisors LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,325 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 385 shares during the quarter. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $262.21.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.4 %

Ecolab stock opened at $254.92 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $72.80 billion, a PE ratio of 47.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $244.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.24. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $255.29.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.