Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Semmax Financial Advisors Inc.

Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $871,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% in the second quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 295.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,317,000 after buying an additional 591,040 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% during the second quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 54,755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $13,032,000 after acquiring an additional 2,323 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Ecolab by 17.4% during the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 394,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $96,640,000 after acquiring an additional 58,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,113,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Six investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $262.21.

Ecolab Stock 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 capitalization of $72.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $244.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.24. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $255.29.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share 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 last year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 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.