1,420 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Bought by Texas Bank & Trust Co

Texas Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 9.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 796,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,285,000 after buying an additional 69,142 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,413 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 99.8% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Ecolab by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 2,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.47.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.2%

NYSE ECL opened at $258.96 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $246.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $247.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a market capitalization of $73.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.