Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires 36,100 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7,037.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,613 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 36,100 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $9,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,276,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3,916.7% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% in the third quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,708 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 20.1% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 477,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $121,870,000 after buying an additional 79,869 shares during the period. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

ECL stock opened at $248.45 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The business has a 50 day moving average of $251.42 and a 200 day moving average of $244.98. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $188.80 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The firm has a market cap of $70.35 billion, a PE ratio of 34.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. 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. Barclays increased their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. 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, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.