Swiss National Bank Has $182.20 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Key Points

• The Swiss National Bank has reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. by 0.6%, holding 718,694 shares valued at $182.20 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including AlphaCore Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, have increased their positions in Ecolab significantly, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Ecolab recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65, yielding approximately 1.0% annually, with a payout ratio of 34.71%.

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 718,694 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 4,700 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.25% of Ecolab worth $182,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $867,000 after purchasing an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 4,019 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 22,584 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,293,000 after purchasing an additional 2,234 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 112,819 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $26,436,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.9%

Ecolab stock traded up $2.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $279.10. 479,477 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,307,767. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $221.62 and a fifty-two week high of $280.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $79.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.26, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.06. The firm's 50 day moving average is $267.60 and its 200-day moving average is $258.07.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given 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 0.9%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $290.71.

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.