Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Lowers Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 98,854 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,200 shares during the quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $25,240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake 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 worth $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 50.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after buying an additional 3,393 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth about $1,194,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $244.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.79 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $252.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.28.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

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.