Klingman & Associates LLC Acquires Shares of 2,777 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Klingman & Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $709,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 14.2% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 13,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,496,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $437,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.5 %

Ecolab stock opened at $249.95 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $175.34 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $70.78 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $252.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $242.73.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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 note on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.20.

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.