Dillon & Associates Inc. Has $13.22 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• Dillon & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. by 7.0%, bringing its total to $13.22 million worth of shares.
• Over 74.91% of Ecolab's stock is held by institutional investors and hedge funds, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Recent analyst activity includes upgrades from Robert W. Baird and UBS Group, with the average price target for Ecolab shares set at $290.71.

Dillon & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 7.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,042 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 3,387 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises 2.0% of Dillon & Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Dillon & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $13,219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. 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 valued at $6,188,736,000 after purchasing an additional 261,489 shares during 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 valued at $1,036,485,000 after purchasing an additional 93,409 shares during 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 valued at $831,744,000 after purchasing an additional 200,612 shares during 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 valued at $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 worth $689,154,000 after acquiring an additional 173,298 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $290.71.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $272.83 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $267.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $257.72. The stock 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. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $274.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. On average, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's payout ratio 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.

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