The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Cuts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 155,526 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,557 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.05% of Ecolab worth $39,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays upped their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1 %

ECL stock opened at $247.70 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $251.47 and a 200 day moving average of $244.68. The firm has a market cap of $70.14 billion, a PE ratio of 34.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.86 and a twelve month high of $262.61. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS 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.