Boston Family Office LLC Has $25.61 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Boston Family Office LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 100,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 534 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up about 1.7% of Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Boston Family Office LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $25,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ECL. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at about $205,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 420,179 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,075 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 4,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab 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 transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % 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, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock worth $206,273,864 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised shares of 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 report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $245.30 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $186.00 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $251.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.45.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.