R Squared Ltd Invests $795,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $795,000. Ecolab makes up 0.8% of R Squared Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners boosted its position in Ecolab by 62.0% in the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management raised its position in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 2,188.9% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.60.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $249.71 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $241.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $245.65. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $195.49 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $70.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.02, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.13. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 36.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab 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.