TigerOak Management L.L.C. Makes New Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

TigerOak Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 2,524 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $591,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $266.07. 848,878 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,251,393. 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 $75.34 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.14. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $243.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.06. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $268.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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.