HM Payson & Co. Purchases 244 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

HM Payson & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,448,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 50.9% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth approximately $1,194,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.6% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 283,748 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,653,000 after purchasing an additional 24,910 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.7 %

ECL opened at $245.70 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $159.15 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $69.91 billion, a PE ratio of 41.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $252.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

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.