Harbour Investments Inc. Acquires 170 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 19.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Ecolab Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $253.18 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $253.54. The firm has a market cap of $72.30 billion, a PE ratio of 46.89, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $232.44.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.00.

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.