Aprio Wealth Management LLC Has $318,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Aprio Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 117 shares during the quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $318,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,423,116,000 after buying an additional 304,402 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after buying an additional 122,715 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,149,000 after buying an additional 43,553 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $390,687,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after buying an additional 24,648 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $252.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $72.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $246.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.15. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $256.59.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, 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 note on Monday, July 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.07.

Ecolab 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.