Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Sells 5,650 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 82.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,650 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 47,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,090,000 after buying an additional 4,997 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 2,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,534 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $902,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 17.5% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $248.77 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $251.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $244.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $188.32 and a 12 month high of $262.61. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 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.