Conning Inc. Has $4.82 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Conning Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 812 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,589,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised 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 acquiring an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in 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 worth $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total value of $20,629,403.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. This represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on ECL. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $247.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $241.89 and its 200-day moving average is $245.95. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $70.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $200.50 and a 1-year high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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

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.