Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock Position Reduced by Studio Investment Management LLC

Studio Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,792 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 180 shares during the quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in Ecolab by 15.9% during the third 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 during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 662,228 shares of company stock valued at $163,358,368 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $243.39 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $186.00 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $68.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $251.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $244.18. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

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.