Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Takes Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2,805.1% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 38,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,635,000 after purchasing an additional 37,167 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,438,000 after purchasing an additional 73,913 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.00.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Monday, hitting $246.70. The stock had a trading volume of 361,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,138,684. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $240.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.56. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $249.00. The stock has a market cap of $70.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.