Apollon Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,357 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 444 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $453,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 17.3% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.6% in the second quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $676,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.9 %

ECL opened at $247.61 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.50. The company has a market capitalization of $70.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $182.39 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.