Chicago Capital LLC Acquires 2,456 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Chicago Capital LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 26.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 2,456 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% during 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 boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 797.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $249.97 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $70.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.06, 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. The company’s 50 day moving average is $241.72 and its 200-day moving average is $245.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $195.49 and a 12-month high of $262.61.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 a boost 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% 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.