Avior Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 366 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the second quarter worth $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 578,355 shares of company stock worth $142,728,965. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $244.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $69.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a PEG ratio of 2.45 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $244.20. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $182.39 and a 52 week high of $262.61.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective 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. Piper Sandler raised their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

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.