B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Acquires Shares of 25,228 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 25,228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,441,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings 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 during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 578,355 shares of company stock worth $142,728,965. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $244.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $69.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.20. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $182.39 and a 1-year high of $262.61.

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, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ECL. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.