Brooklyn Investment Group Purchases New Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $115,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 0.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 3.0% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc raised its position in Ecolab by 1.6% in the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $251.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $244.66. The company has a market capitalization of $70.10 billion, a PE ratio of 34.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $187.86 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Eight equities 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.