Commerce Bank Cuts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Commerce Bank lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,902 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,925 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 132,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,897,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Ecolab in the third quarter worth approximately $6,441,000. FWG Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 1,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 56,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $243.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $68.92 billion, a PE ratio of 34.14, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $251.86 and a 200 day moving average of $244.18. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $186.00 and a 12 month 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group downgraded 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 662,228 shares of company stock worth $163,358,368. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.