Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Has $855,000 Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 39.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,372 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,164 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Ecolab were worth $855,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $263.81 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.96 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $252.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.16.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Ecolab's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup decreased their price objective 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. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

About Ecolab

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.

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