Centaurus Financial Inc. Has $267,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 17.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on ECL. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on 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 set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.86 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $251.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $244.66. 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 $70.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. 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 company earned $1.54 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.