Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $602,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 136,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,763,000 after buying an additional 3,328 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 45,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,687,000 after buying an additional 3,310 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 487,875 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $124,569,000 after buying an additional 6,324 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $209,000. Finally, HM Payson & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 5,671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 in the last ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $246.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $70.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $172.79 and a one year high of $262.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $252.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $242.48.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current 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.