Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Has $33.71 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich cut its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 19,706 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $33,713,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth $25,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Robbins Farley acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $221.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,242,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,205,840. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The company has a market capitalization of $63.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.16, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $223.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $200.56.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.60%.

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.