Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Has $1.56 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,856 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 561 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ECL. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Bank of America raised Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ECL traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $228.95. 968,598 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,210,318. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $65.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.13, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $231.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.51.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.