Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Empirical Finance LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 104 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,007,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position 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 period. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 15,834 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $247.39 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $200.50 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.95. The stock has a market cap of $70.05 billion, a PE ratio of 34.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.05%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at $7,264,396,133.28. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.60.

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.