Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Associated Banc Corp

Associated Banc Corp reduced its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 47 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 47,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,090,000 after acquiring an additional 4,997 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 2,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 17.5% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This represents a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864 over the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $246.81 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $251.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.54. 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 $186.13 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.89 billion, a PE ratio of 34.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus 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.