Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Sells 1,768 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,375 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,768 shares during the quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 578,355 shares of company stock worth $142,728,965. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

ECL opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $69.65 billion, a PE ratio of 34.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $182.39 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $252.28 and a 200-day moving average of $244.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. 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, Ecolab 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.