KBC Group NV Has $84.38 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 129,738 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $84,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 24.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $881,000 after buying an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 24.0% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $942,000 after acquiring an additional 790 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.4% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 3,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $784,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 5.6% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,663 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter worth about $223,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE ECL opened at $249.90 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $181.40 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $252.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.