5 Best Agriculture Technology Stocks To Buy Now

2. Ecolab (ECL)

No of HFs: 52

Dollar Value of Hedge Fund Holdings: $2.3 billion

Ecolab is a global specialty chemicals and life sciences company. It generates most of its revenue from its water, food and beverage, downstream, and paper businesses. ECL also has a smaller pest control and textile unit that accounts for less than 10% of its total revenue.

At the end of the third quarter of 2020, a total of 52 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 13% from the previous quarter. By comparison, 42 hedge funds held shares or bullish call options in ECL a year ago. Hedge funds have never been his bullish on ECL before. The largest stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) was held by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, which reported holding $872.6 million worth of stock at the end of September. It was followed by Cantillon Capital Management with a $440.2 million position. Other investors bullish on the company included Impax Asset Management, AQR Capital Management, and Markel Gayner Asset Management.

As industrywide interest jumped, key hedge funds have jumped into Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) headfirst. Holocene Advisors, managed by Brandon Haley, created the largest position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL). Holocene Advisors had $45.7 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Josh Donfeld and David Rogers’s Castle Hook Partners also made a $24.2 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Mikal Patel’s Oribel Capital Management, Michael Cowley’s Sandbar Asset Management, and D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw.