SouthState Corp Reduces Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SouthState Corp cut its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 328 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3 %

ECL stock opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $182.39 and a one year high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.65 billion, a PE ratio of 34.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average of $252.28 and a 200-day moving average of $244.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade 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, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 578,355 shares of company stock worth $142,728,965 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

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.