William H. Gates III Sells 70,000 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $245.30 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.46 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.00 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $251.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $244.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group cut Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.