Jump Financial LLC Has $7.39 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 356.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,530 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,615 shares during the quarter. Jump Financial LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Invesco LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 1,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.67.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $238.24 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.05 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $254.06 and a 200-day moving average of $248.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $67.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

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.