Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth about $115,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 68,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,574,000 after acquiring an additional 970 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 4,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 11.8% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 47,350 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,090,000 after purchasing an additional 4,997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 11.1% during the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 2,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $247.55 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.86 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $251.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. Bank of America raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.