Oak Ridge Investments LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,635 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,861 shares during the period. Ecolab accounts for about 0.9% of Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $981,007,000 after buying an additional 35,027 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Ecolab by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $608,851,000 after acquiring an additional 122,715 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,250,000 after purchasing an additional 8,332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.47.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $237.63 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $195.49 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.48. The stock has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.