William H. Gates III Sells 83,873 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,534,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. This trade represents a 0.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $241.77 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $252.00 and a 200-day moving average of $244.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $184.95 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $68.46 billion, a PE ratio of 33.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on 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. raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

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.