Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Has $1.97 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 84.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,658,768,000 after purchasing an additional 105,289 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,993,504 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $701,438,000 after purchasing an additional 165,949 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2%

Ecolab stock traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $252.78. 951,169 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,157,489. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $247.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.55. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $220.96 and a 52 week high of $273.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.70 billion, a PE ratio of 34.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. Ecolab's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Five investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.