OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Sells 24,514 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lowered its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,879 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 24,514 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up approximately 1.0% of OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $35,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after acquiring an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Ecolab by 295.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,317,000 after acquiring an additional 591,040 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 1.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after acquiring an additional 304,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Ecolab by 580.7% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,248,000 after acquiring an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s 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 $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 available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s 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 $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 available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab 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 sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $250.56 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.95 billion, a PE ratio of 35.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $252.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.27. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $177.16 and a 12-month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

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.