Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Stratos Investment Management LLC

Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 21.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after buying an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Eastern Bank increased its position in Ecolab by 750.9% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in Ecolab by 64.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after buying an additional 129,738 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Ecolab by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on ECL. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $249.33 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.72 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $70.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $241.81 and a 200-day moving average of $245.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 36.47%.

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.