Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,157 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $608,851,000 after buying an additional 122,715 shares during the period. Mirova US LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.3% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,149,000 after buying an additional 43,553 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $390,687,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $358,250,000 after acquiring an additional 8,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $326,626,000 after purchasing an additional 24,648 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $245.30 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $251.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.00 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $69.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.