Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Has $4.41 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 94 shares during the quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was 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 ninety days. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $246.85 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $172.79 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $252.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $242.48. The stock has a market cap of $70.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 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.