Banco Santander S.A. Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Banco Santander S.A. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,622 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $15,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 360.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 20,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,640,000 after buying an additional 15,733 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 31.6% in the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $414,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 8.4% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,609 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 6.6% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,120,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 662,228 shares of company stock valued at $163,358,368. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $241.80 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $186.00 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $244.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

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.