Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Has $31.19 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 27.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 122,168 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 47,002 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $31,193,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arvest Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% in the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 3,950 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.0% in the third quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,724 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 2,258 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 38,191 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,751,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 997 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $250.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 745,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,086,597. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $177.16 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.95 billion, a PE ratio of 35.10, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $243.05.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. 0.04% of the stock is 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.