Quilter Plc Grows Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Quilter Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 73,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,751 shares during the quarter. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.1 %

Ecolab stock opened at $247.39 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.95. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $200.50 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $70.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.