Quilter Plc Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Quilter Plc raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,751 shares during the quarter. Quilter Plc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,197,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the sale, the insider now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $241.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $200.50 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

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 paid a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays upped 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. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

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.