Mackenzie Financial Corp Has $18.37 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mackenzie Financial Corp decreased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,589 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,092 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $18,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $219.25 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $223.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $198.77. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $62.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.77, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors 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 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $230.47.

Ecolab 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.