S&CO Inc. Raises Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

S&CO Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 232,222 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,710 shares during the period. Ecolab makes up 3.9% of S&CO Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. S&CO Inc. owned 0.08% of Ecolab worth $59,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter worth $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during 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 buying an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Ecolab by 295.2% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,317,000 after buying an additional 591,040 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 580.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after buying an additional 258,971 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 136.0% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 359,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $85,467,000 after acquiring an additional 206,973 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $245.24 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.39 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $252.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $243.82. The company has a market cap of $69.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted 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, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 30,388,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,408,775,055.80. This trade represents a 0.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Ecolab

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.