Bank of Montreal Can Sells 116,372 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 29.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 278,384 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 116,372 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.10% of Ecolab worth $70,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $279.87.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock traded up $0.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $248.03. 50,933 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,089,966. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.86 and a 52-week high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $70.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.69, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. The stock's 50-day moving average is $251.56 and its 200 day moving average is $244.64.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. Ecolab's revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

About Ecolab

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.