Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 31,903.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 122,715 shares in the last quarter. Mirova US LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in 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 buying an additional 43,553 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $326,626,000 after acquiring an additional 24,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $246.81. 123,209 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,091,474. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $69.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.54. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.13 and a twelve month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 32.05 % decrease in their position. 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 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.