Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 187,195 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Voya Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 582,328 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 187,195 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned 0.21% of Ecolab worth $136,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $282.33.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

ECL traded up $0.76 during trading on Monday, reaching $238.90. 1,752,909 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,152,623. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $250.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $248.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $219.97 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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