Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Position Raised by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 18.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,746 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,558 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 15.6% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE raised its position in Ecolab by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 104,153 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 19.3% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 120,176 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,467,000 after purchasing an additional 19,431 shares during the period. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments purchased a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,257,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 7.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $267.09. The company had a trading volume of 966,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,182,298. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $263.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.18. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $274.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.75 billion, a PE ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. Ecolab's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

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.