MQS Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,150 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% in the second quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, 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 sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded down $2.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $247.61. 786,087 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,086,211. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $182.39 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $70.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $252.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.50. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

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.