Angeles Wealth Management LLC Acquires 398 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 398 shares during the quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $321,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% in the second quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 42.1% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 152 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $990,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. TIAA Trust National Association raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% in the second quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 6,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,457,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor OS LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the second quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $957,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $254.67.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $249.42 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $253.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $234.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.