OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,519 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,263 shares during the quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 5.6% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth $264,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 32.9% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 18,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,355,000 after acquiring an additional 4,674 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 360.6% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 31.6% during the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $414,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.0 %

ECL opened at $245.24 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $182.39 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $252.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $243.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last 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.

Insider Activity

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 value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Ecolab

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.