Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Major Shareholder Sells $24,806,000.00 in Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total transaction of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $241.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $68.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.91, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $184.95 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.19.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ecolab

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

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.