Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Acquired by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 14.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,181 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Ecolab by 5.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after purchasing an additional 122,715 shares in the last quarter. Mirova US LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,149,000 after acquiring an additional 43,553 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $390,687,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 1.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after acquiring an additional 24,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,168,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $295,661,000 after purchasing an additional 13,654 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related 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 value 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. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 83,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.96, for a total transaction of $20,629,403.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,534,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,264,396,133.28. The trade was a 0.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 662,228 shares of company stock worth $163,358,368 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $243.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $68.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $251.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.18. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $186.00 and a one year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. 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.