Empirical Finance LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Empirical Finance LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 104 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,972,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in Ecolab by 249.2% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 1,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $330,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 123,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,548,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,497,000 after buying an additional 867 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $247.39 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $70.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $200.50 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $241.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.95.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.