Geneva Capital Management LLC Sells 535 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Geneva Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,147 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 535 shares during the quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Ecolab by 295.2% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,317,000 after purchasing an additional 591,040 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,423,116,000 after purchasing an additional 304,402 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Ecolab by 580.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after purchasing an additional 258,971 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $249.90 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $70.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $181.40 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $252.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.46.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total value of $15,850,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total transaction of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock valued at $117,922,965. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

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.