Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 84.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 46,271 shares during the quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after buying an additional 2,444 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $246,000. Finally, Eastern Bank lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 165,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,771,000 after acquiring an additional 2,853 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.47.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $254.91 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $248.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.68. The firm has a market cap of $72.30 billion, a PE ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $220.96 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

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.