Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. Sells 73 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,971 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Mission Creek Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,786 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,853,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 23.5% during the 2nd quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.9% during the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $248.17 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $251.17 and its 200 day moving average is $245.19. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $188.80 and a 52 week high of $262.61. 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 company has a market cap of $70.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.81, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group cut 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. 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This 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 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667. Company insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.