Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Raises Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 20.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors increased its position in Ecolab by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 1,709 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Linscomb & Williams Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.7% in the third quarter. Linscomb & Williams Inc. now owns 10,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $222.19.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.4 %

ECL stock opened at $230.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.38. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $231.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.02 billion, a PE ratio of 48.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

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.