Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Holdings Lifted by Kingsview Wealth Management LLC

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,046 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $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 valued at $205,323,667 over the last three months. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report 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. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $251.54 and a 200-day moving average of $244.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.86 and a 12-month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ecolab

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.