Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,718,340 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 173,298 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.96% of Ecolab worth $689,154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,677.8% in the first quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 1,000,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $253,520,000 after acquiring an additional 996,400 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% in the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 79.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,260,813 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $319,641,000 after purchasing an additional 558,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during 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. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Ecolab Trading Up 1.1%
ECL traded up $3.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $272.83. 833,178 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,143,075. The stock's 50-day moving average is $267.21 and its 200 day moving average is $257.51. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $221.62 and a 12 month high of $274.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.38 billion, a PE ratio of 36.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.06.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. The business had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.
Ecolab Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.71%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Mizuho raised their target price 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. UBS Group raised Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $290.71.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Ecolab
Ecolab Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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