Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC Acquires Shares of 1,000 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 37.9% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,820,000 after purchasing an additional 2,951 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 45.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 29,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,002,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares during the period. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $323,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 138,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,484,000 after purchasing an additional 7,145 shares during the period. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 191.9% in the 3rd quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 5,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $868,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $235.44 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $245.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.60, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on ECL. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

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.