Raymond James Trust N.A. Has $3.12 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Raymond James Trust N.A. cut its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 507 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,121,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 16.9% in the third quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 4,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the period. First County Bank CT lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 1,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. Banco Santander S.A. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 0.6% in the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 59,622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,223,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 14.2% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 33,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $245.30 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $251.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $244.29. 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 company has a market capitalization of $69.46 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.00 and a 1 year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

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.