Claro Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Claro Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 15.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $264,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 32.9% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 18,862 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,355,000 after acquiring an additional 4,674 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 360.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,733 shares during the period. Finally, Lake Street Advisors Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 31.6% during the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $414,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $245.24 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.39 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $243.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.44 billion, a PE ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS 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.