Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI Decreases Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 637 shares during the quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Conning Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.1% during the third quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 19,742 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,041,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 20.7% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,564 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.5% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 136,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,763,000 after acquiring an additional 3,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Ridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.8% in the third quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 45,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,687,000 after purchasing an additional 3,310 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday. 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 report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, 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 value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value 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 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $244.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $252.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $241.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $69.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.30 and a 1 year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab 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.