Baron Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Baron Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 29.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,137 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 1.6% during the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 5,474 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 1.7% during the third quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 4,244 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,084,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. S&CO Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 0.7% during the third quarter. S&CO Inc. now owns 232,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $59,293,000 after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Ecolab by 131.3% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 180,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $46,184,000 after acquiring an additional 102,687 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 15.8% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 4,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after acquiring an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $252.28 and a 200 day moving average of $244.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $182.39 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $69.65 billion, a PE ratio of 34.50, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 29,718,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,372,030,892.46. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 578,355 shares of company stock worth $142,728,965 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

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.