Klingman & Associates LLC Acquires New Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Klingman & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Ecolab by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,589,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 50.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $249.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $70.78 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $175.34 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $252.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.73.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

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.