Trexquant Investment LP Has $14.06 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 289.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 59,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 44,596 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $14,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,169,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,279,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $9,431,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $944,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.88.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $254.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $72.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $256.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.23. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Ecolab Company 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.