Cerity Partners LLC Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 23.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 146,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,830 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $37,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after buying an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Ecolab by 295.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,317,000 after buying an additional 591,040 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Ecolab by 580.7% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after buying an additional 258,971 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 136.0% during the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 359,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $85,467,000 after buying an additional 206,973 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” 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 objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Bank of America raised 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 research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.8 %

ECL opened at $245.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.46 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $251.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $244.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.00 and a 12-month high of $262.61.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Company 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.