Azimuth Capital Management LLC Has $538,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (ECL)

Azimuth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,293 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Azimuth Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 5.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,454,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,563,731,000 after buying an additional 1,044,370 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Ecolab by 19.3% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,555,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $445,590,000 after buying an additional 574,200 shares during the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S raised its stake in Ecolab by 10.8% in the first quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S now owns 3,418,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $428,535,000 after buying an additional 333,261 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 3.5% in the first quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 3,396,018 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $425,657,000 after buying an additional 115,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alecta Pensionsforsakring Omsesidigt raised its stake in Ecolab by 4.6% in the first quarter. Alecta Pensionsforsakring Omsesidigt now owns 2,264,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $283,770,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Inc. (ECL) opened at 132.45 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $110.65 and a one year high of $134.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $132.91 and its 200 day moving average is $126.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.96% and a net margin of 9.47%. The company had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post $4.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 20th were given a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 16th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.91%.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. J P Morgan Chase & Co raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $120.00 to $138.00 in a research report on Friday, May 26th. Nomura raised shares of Ecolab from a “reduce” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $99.00 to $118.00 in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Instinet raised shares of Ecolab from a “reduce” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $99.00 to $118.00 in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $141.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.79.

In related news, EVP Stephen M. Taylor sold 23,151 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.06, for a total transaction of $3,080,472.06. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,916,645.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Carl M. Casale bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $126.33 per share, for a total transaction of $631,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,452,163.35. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 44,810 shares of company stock worth $5,897,361 in the last ninety days. 1.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene and energy technologies and services. The Company’s cleaning and sanitizing programs and products, pest elimination services and equipment maintenance and repair services support customers in the foodservice, food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, government and education, retail, textile care and commercial facilities management sectors in over 170 countries.

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