Davis R M Inc. Cuts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Davis R M Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 119,332 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 6,884 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $30,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $245.30 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $251.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.46 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G 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 52 week low of $186.00 and a 52 week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during 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%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, 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, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock worth $206,273,864. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.