Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Acquires 85 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Ecolab by 5.0% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Mirova US LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 2.3% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,149,000 after acquiring an additional 43,553 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $326,626,000 after buying an additional 24,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.2% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,168,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $295,661,000 after purchasing an additional 13,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 578,355 shares of company stock worth $142,728,965 in the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.39 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $252.28 and its 200 day moving average is $244.09. 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 posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. 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 business earned $1.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

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.