Citigroup Inc. Purchases 97,361 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 50.5%, acquiring an additional 97,361 shares, bringing its total ownership to 290,238 shares worth approximately $73.6 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs Group, have also recently increased their positions in Ecolab, indicating growing interest among institutional investors.
• Ecolab has been rated as a "Buy" by the majority of analysts, with a current consensus price target of $290.71 per share, despite a recent downgrade from Barclays.

Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 50.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 290,238 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 97,361 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.10% of Ecolab worth $73,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,089,226 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,036,485,000 after purchasing an additional 93,409 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $831,744,000 after purchasing an additional 200,612 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $689,154,000 after purchasing an additional 173,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three research 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.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $290.71.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $272.83 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $274.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $267.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $257.62. The stock has a market cap of $77.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.71%.

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.

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