Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 484,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 13,148 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $113,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 750.9% in the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,519,000 after purchasing an additional 143,497 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after purchasing an additional 129,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $249.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $241.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.67. The stock has a market cap of $70.71 billion, a PE ratio of 35.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.49 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s 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.