Associated Banc Corp Sells 47 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Associated Banc Corp decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 47 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 838,770 shares of company stock worth $206,273,864 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $246.81 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. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.13 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $251.62 and a 200 day moving average of $244.54. The stock has a market cap of $69.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm 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 business posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports 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, October 30th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

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.