Prospera Financial Services Inc Sells 156 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Prospera Financial Services Inc decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,869 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 156 shares during the period. Prospera Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,940,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank increased its holdings in Ecolab by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 662,228 shares of company stock valued at $163,358,368. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $241.77 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $252.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.19. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $184.95 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $68.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS 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 company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current 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.