Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 546 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $420,000. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 187.4% during the third quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $1,404,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $628,000. Finally, Arvest Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 3,950 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $245.24 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.39 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 2.50 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.69.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment 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 company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This represents a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.