Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 31,903.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,737 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $5,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock worth $206,273,864. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective 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 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE ECL traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $246.81. 123,209 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,091,474. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $69.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50 day moving average of $251.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.54. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $186.13 and a 52-week high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current 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.