Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. Has $489,000 Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,464 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $328,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in 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 last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 6,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,350,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GS Investments Inc. grew its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $221.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $201.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

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.