Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 1.7%, now owning approximately 1,465,316 shares valued at $371.5 million.
• Ecolab reported a quarterly earnings miss, with earnings per share of $1.89, just below analyst expectations of $1.90, despite revenue meeting estimates.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65, with an annualized yield of 1.0%, to be paid on October 15th to investors of record by September 16th.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,465,316 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 23,826 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.52% of Ecolab worth $371,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,967,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 6.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $689,154,000 after purchasing an additional 173,298 shares during the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 27.5% in the 1st quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 12,503 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,169,000 after buying an additional 2,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 350 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays decreased their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $290.71.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Ecolab stock traded up $3.06 on Friday, hitting $272.83. 833,178 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,136,417. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $274.17. The company has a market cap of $77.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.43, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $267.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $257.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.71%.

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.