William H. Gates III Sells 106,542 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Large shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded up $1.88 on Friday, reaching $245.30. 1,302,073 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,090,470. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $251.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.29. The company has a market cap of $69.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.00 and a 1 year high of $262.61. 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 (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 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $242,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,153 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,317,811,000 after purchasing an additional 68,043 shares in the last quarter. Brophy Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at about $881,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 9.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 796,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $203,285,000 after buying an additional 69,142 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

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.