AMG National Trust Bank Trims Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AMG National Trust Bank lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 682 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,280,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. S&CO Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.7% in the third quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 232,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,293,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Ecolab by 131.3% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 180,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $46,184,000 after purchasing an additional 102,687 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 4,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,459 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.3% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 374,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $95,649,000 after buying an additional 15,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, November 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $245.24 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $182.39 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

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

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.