Baillie Gifford & Co. Trims Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,017,972 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 96,461 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned approximately 0.36% of Ecolab worth $259,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $27,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $250.56 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $177.16 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company has a market cap of $70.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.14, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $252.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $243.27.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.