Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. Sells 4,063 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd. reduced its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,063 shares during the quarter. Ecolab makes up approximately 3.7% of Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Firetrail Investments PTY Ltd.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,849,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $249.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $70.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $181.40 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $252.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.46. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current 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.