Brown Financial Advisors Invests $951,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Brown Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $951,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $749,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $336,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 3,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.29.

Insider Activity

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

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $253.37 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $256.59. The company has a market cap of $72.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $245.81 and a 200-day moving average of $237.51.

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. 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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current 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 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 42.22%.

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.