GAMMA Investing LLC Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 worth $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 35,027 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after buying an additional 122,715 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,250,000 after buying an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $326,626,000 after acquiring an additional 24,648 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $280.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,566 shares of company stock valued at $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $231.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.46 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $246.05.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

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.