Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,519 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,263 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,665,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $698,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.2% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,158 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,849,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 15,743 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,020,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 3,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in Ecolab by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after buying an additional 129,738 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $245.24 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $252.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $182.39 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market cap of $69.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.