Financial Counselors Inc. Has $30.12 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Financial Counselors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 117,955 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 863 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $30,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $981,007,000 after acquiring an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,558,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,851,000 after purchasing an additional 122,715 shares in the last quarter. Mirova US LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the second quarter. Mirova US LLC now owns 1,975,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,149,000 after buying an additional 43,553 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $358,250,000 after buying an additional 8,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,372,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $326,626,000 after acquiring an additional 24,648 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $247.55 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $251.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $244.66. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.86 and a 12 month high of $262.61. The company has a market cap 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 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. 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 106,542 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. The trade was a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, October 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.87.

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.