Short Interest in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Rises By 8.0%

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,900,000 shares, a growth of 8.0% from the October 31st total of 1,760,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 978,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on ECL. Morgan Stanley raised 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted 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, Barclays lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $0.63 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $248.80. 211,103 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,086,141. Ecolab has a 1 year low of $188.80 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $251.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $245.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 over the last quarter. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecolab

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Burney Co. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $232,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 262.6% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 57,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,202,000 after acquiring an additional 41,409 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 43.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Research & Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

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.