Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Buys 2,717 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,091 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,717 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,662,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,644,987,000 after buying an additional 250,980 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,479,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,469,019,000 after acquiring an additional 22,986 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $847,544,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,610,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $703,452,000 after purchasing an additional 90,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Ecolab by 9.0% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 2,497,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $674,497,000 after purchasing an additional 205,634 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $303.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI upgraded Ecolab from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $265.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Mizuho set a $315.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $307.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $297.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $282.03 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month high of $286.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $269.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $269.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $79.88 billion, a PE ratio of 40.52, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.99.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The basic materials company reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.07. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.55% and a net margin of 12.49%.The firm had revenue of $4.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 16th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 41.95%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Boo Alexander A. De sold 1,422 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.25, for a total transaction of $381,451.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,726 shares in the company, valued at $1,535,999.50. This trade represents a 19.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $257.60 per share, with a total value of $193,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 23,035 shares in the company, valued at $5,933,816. This represents a 3.37% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

Ecolab, Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services. The company develops and supplies cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, dispensing equipment, water-treatment systems, pest elimination services and related technologies designed to help businesses maintain clean, safe and efficient operations. Its offerings span both products and onsite services, often paired with technical support and training.

Ecolab serves a broad range of end markets including hospitality and foodservice, food and beverage processing, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial operations, and energy and utilities.