Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by KCM Investment Advisors LLC

KCM Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 77,635 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,147 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $19,823,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter worth $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter worth $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $27,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:ECL traded down $2.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $245.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 149,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,081,994. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $252.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $243.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $182.39 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $69.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 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 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.