Ascent Group LLC Purchases 400 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price on the stock. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $248.17 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $188.80 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $251.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $245.19. The firm has a market cap of $70.27 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly 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 firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

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.