F M Investments LLC Buys Shares of 33,186 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

F M Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 33,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,899,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Ecolab by 87.0% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 333,511 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,376,000 after purchasing an additional 155,168 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. now owns 350,630 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $80,585,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 59,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,105,000 after buying an additional 3,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.9% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 27,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,468,000 after acquiring an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Seven investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.00.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $253.18. 1,459,154 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,134,807. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $253.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.89, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $241.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $232.44.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.22%.

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.