Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Trims Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,944 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $19,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after purchasing an additional 304,402 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake 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 valued at $608,851,000 after buying an additional 122,715 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,149,000 after acquiring an additional 43,553 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter worth about $390,687,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after acquiring an additional 24,648 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other 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 directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $246.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $252.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $242.48. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $172.79 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $70.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued 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 net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.20.

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.