Kennebec Savings Bank Takes Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 2,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ECL. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth approximately $214,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter worth $490,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 24.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $881,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in Ecolab by 32.2% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 10,143 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,342,000 after acquiring an additional 2,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 2,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $494,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, 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. 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, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.20.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $250.04 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $175.34 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $252.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal 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.