D.A. Davidson & CO. Purchases 970 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,829 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 970 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,574,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $246.81 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $251.62 and a 200-day moving average of $244.54. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $69.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.13 and a twelve month 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, beating 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 business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This trade represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864. 0.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.