Financial Perspectives Inc Has $154,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Financial Perspectives Inc lessened its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $916,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. GS Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2 %

Ecolab stock traded up $0.37 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $219.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 717,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,212,988. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $223.67 and its 200 day moving average is $199.93. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

About Ecolab

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.