Baron Wealth Management LLC Acquires 258 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 29.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. NBC Securities Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% in the third quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $453,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 0.3% during the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.0% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 17.3% during the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% during the second quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $676,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.06, for a total value of $24,806,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,372,030,892.46. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 578,355 shares of company stock valued at $142,728,965. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $69.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $182.39 and a fifty-two week high of $262.61. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $252.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $244.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.