AIA Group Ltd Sells 108 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AIA Group Ltd cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,313 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 108 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $335,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.5 %

ECL stock opened at $250.04 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.34 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $242.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $70.80 billion, a PE ratio of 35.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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.