Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 369,880 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,369 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.13% of Ecolab worth $94,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NBC Securities Inc. boosted 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 acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 3.0% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 17.3% in the third quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1 %

ECL opened at $247.55 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.72, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $251.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $244.66. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.86 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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 company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was 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 owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total value of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.