MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 2,107 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 75,655 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,107 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $19,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 28.3% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 78.1% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 79,795 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,374,000 after buying an additional 34,995 shares during the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 133.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 2,288 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $584,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310 shares in the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 16,642 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,249,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 8.5% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 13,503 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,448,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ECL. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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 increased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $70.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $251.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $244.66.

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. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.