Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $247.32 on Wednesday. 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 $70.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.69, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $186.13 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $251.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.64.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 838,770 shares of company stock worth $206,273,864. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

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.