Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by V Square Quantitative Management LLC

V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 15.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after buying an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,415 shares of company stock valued at $63,544,899. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $265.74 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $267.56. The firm has a market cap of $75.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $242.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.20.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

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.