Independent Advisor Alliance Raises Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Independent Advisor Alliance increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,418 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter worth $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value 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 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock worth $206,273,864 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company 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 target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Eight equities 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2 %

Ecolab stock opened at $247.32 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $186.13 and a 12-month high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $251.56 and a 200 day moving average of $244.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm 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. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share 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.