Jump Financial LLC Buys 24,615 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 356.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,530 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 24,615 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Ecolab by 8.2% in 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 period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ecolab by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,993,504 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $701,438,000 after buying an additional 165,949 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,499,757 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $586,309,000 after buying an additional 83,328 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $282.33.

Ecolab Stock Down 2.5 %

ECL traded down $5.99 during trading on Monday, reaching $232.74. The stock had a trading volume of 135,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,143,778. 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 $66.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The stock's 50 day moving average is $253.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $248.56. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.27 and a one year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

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.