Claro Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Claro Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 622 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $245.24 on Monday. 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 $182.39 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $69.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s fifty day moving average is $252.35 and its 200 day moving average is $243.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

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.