Trexquant Investment LP Buys 44,596 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 289.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,995 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 44,596 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in Ecolab were worth $14,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,169,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $1,279,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $9,431,000. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,027 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $289.33.

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Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded down $12.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $237.65. 2,594,535 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,135,019. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $256.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.15. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.41 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Ecolab

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.