William H. Gates III Sells 100,000 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.09. 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 $182.39 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.