Portside Wealth Group LLC Makes New Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 843 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter worth about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.5 %

ECL opened at $250.04 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $175.34 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The business has a 50-day moving average of $252.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $242.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results 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%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

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.