Centiva Capital LP Makes New $1.97 Million Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 7,733 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,974,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

ECL stock opened at $248.45 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $251.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $244.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.80 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $70.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.