Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Cantillon Capital Management LLC

Cantillon Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,155,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 34,501 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up about 1.8% of Cantillon Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Cantillon Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.41% of Ecolab worth $295,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after buying an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 19.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE ECL opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $252.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.09. 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 $182.39 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $69.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 578,355 shares of company stock valued at $142,728,965. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ECL. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target 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, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

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.