OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Purchases 7,236 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 149,949 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,236 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises 1.1% of OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd owned 0.05% of Ecolab worth $29,742,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. United Bank raised its position in Ecolab by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 4,149 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 6,172 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,090,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,893 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 6.7% in the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,707 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its position in Ecolab by 17.1% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 73,182 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,920,000 after purchasing an additional 10,676 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ECL. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL traded down $1.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $218.16. 2,586,604 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,014,656. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.37. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The company has a market cap of $62.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.54, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Ecolab Company 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.