AMG National Trust Bank Sells 682 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

AMG National Trust Bank cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 682 shares during the quarter. AMG National Trust Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after acquiring an additional 122,715 shares during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,149,000 after purchasing an additional 43,553 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at about $390,687,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after purchasing an additional 24,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,168,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $295,661,000 after buying an additional 13,654 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.0 %

ECL opened at $245.24 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $182.39 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a market capitalization of $69.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.95. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a report 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.20.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % 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 Ecolab stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.