Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Stratos Investment Management LLC

Stratos Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 15.9% during 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 acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $249.33 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $241.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.72 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $70.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

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 of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 in the last quarter. 0.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

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.