Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd trimmed its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 82.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,518 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $185,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of 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. Insiders sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.10 billion, a PE ratio of 34.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.86 and a 52-week high of $262.61.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.