Oakworth Capital Inc. Buys 68 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 4,840.0% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management bought a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $231,000. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 10.9% during the first quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.7% during the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 40,910 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,468,000 after purchasing an additional 2,572 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $271.80.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $258.24 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $251.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $240.37. The company has a market capitalization of $73.75 billion, a PE ratio of 47.82, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.