Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by DRW Securities LLC

DRW Securities LLC decreased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 799 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 495 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,062,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 76,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,613,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 41.9% in the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 2,352 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $543,000 after acquiring an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.8% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 31,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,188,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.86 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.10 billion, a PE ratio of 34.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $251.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.66.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab 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.