Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Retirement Guys Formula LLC

Retirement Guys Formula LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the period. Retirement Guys Formula LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $981,007,000 after acquiring an additional 35,027 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Ecolab by 8.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.2% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,168,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $295,661,000 after acquiring an additional 13,654 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $261.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.62, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $201.99 and a 12 month high of $267.56.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock valued at $88,350,899. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $281.27.

Ecolab Company 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.