Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stake Reduced by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 546 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This represents a 32.05 % 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 65,015 shares of Ecolab 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 0.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $245.24 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $69.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $182.39 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $243.69.

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

Ecolab Company 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.