Caledonia Investments PLC Has $28.88 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Caledonia Investments PLC lessened its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 123,210 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 20,400 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 3.5% of Caledonia Investments PLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Caledonia Investments PLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $28,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Private Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 5,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,242,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $276,000. One Wealth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Bath Savings Trust Co raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Bath Savings Trust Co now owns 71,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $16,801,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $228,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE ECL traded down $4.62 on Friday, reaching $229.95. The stock had a trading volume of 1,254,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,080,177. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $243.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $195.49 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $65.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm's revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This is an increase from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $277.47.

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.