Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stake Trimmed by Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.

Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,063 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises approximately 3.7% of Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 24.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 24.0% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 790 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $615,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ECL opened at $249.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $181.40 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $252.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $243.46. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab 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 sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. Company 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.