Wolverine Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 45.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,411,233 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $6,188,736,000 after acquiring an additional 261,489 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the first 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 acquiring an additional 93,409 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $831,744,000 after acquiring an additional 200,612 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.
Ecolab Stock Performance
ECL traded up $3.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $272.83. The company had a trading volume of 833,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,136,417. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $267.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $257.72. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $221.62 and a 12-month 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. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 16th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 34.71%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Baird R W raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities 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's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $290.71.
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About Ecolab
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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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