Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Reduces Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI decreased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 88.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,200 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 82,978 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI's holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the third 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 grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% in the third 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 last quarter. 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 valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Leverty Financial Group LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Leverty Financial Group LLC now owns 8,718 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.0 %

Ecolab stock traded up $2.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $250.34. The stock had a trading volume of 931,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,032,985. The company has a market capitalization of $70.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.49 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 Inc. has a one year low of $189.58 and a one year high of $262.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $250.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.50.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. This is a boost from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.98%.

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.