Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Major Shareholder William H. Gates III Sells 65,015 Shares of Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.0 %

Ecolab stock opened at $244.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.29, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $172.79 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $4 billion during 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 in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

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.