KBC Group NV Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 64.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 129,738 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned about 0.12% of Ecolab worth $84,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter worth approximately $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after acquiring an additional 735,934 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Ecolab by 295.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,317,000 after purchasing an additional 591,040 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,423,116,000 after purchasing an additional 304,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Ecolab by 580.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,248,000 after purchasing an additional 258,971 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $249.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $70.76 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $181.40 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $252.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $243.46.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results 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 business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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. In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction 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 $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, 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 note on Monday, November 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.20.

Ecolab Company 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.