Cullinan Associates Inc. Has $5.60 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cullinan Associates Inc. increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 39.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,914 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,791 shares during the period. Cullinan Associates Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $80,564,000. Eastern Bank grew its stake in Ecolab by 750.9% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,519,000 after buying an additional 143,497 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Ecolab by 64.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $84,380,000 after purchasing an additional 129,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 8.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.60.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total value of $20,629,403.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at $7,264,396,133.28. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 360,415 shares of company stock worth $88,350,899. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $249.76 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $70.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $195.49 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $241.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.81.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 36.47%.

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.