Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co Cuts Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 67.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 239 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Indiana Trust & Investment Management Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $61,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,194,000. Finally, Chemung Canal Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 46.8% in the first quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 30,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,953,000 after buying an additional 9,601 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.07.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $259.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $74.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.11, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $261.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $249.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $239.39.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.