Eads & Heald Wealth Management Sells 515 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Eads & Heald Wealth Management lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,559 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 515 shares during the quarter. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $1,194,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $244.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $69.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $252.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $241.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.30 and a 1 year 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 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its 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 net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was 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 owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab 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 in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by 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.