Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Position Lessened by MetLife Investment Management LLC

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 75,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,107 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $19,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 84.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.6% in the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 283,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,653,000 after acquiring an additional 24,910 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 in the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $244.66. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $187.86 and a one year high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS 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 company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Barclays raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

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.