FWG Holdings LLC Purchases 71 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

FWG Holdings LLC raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the period. FWG Holdings LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter worth about $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after acquiring an additional 735,934 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring 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 valued at $72,248,000 after purchasing an additional 258,971 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 206,973 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This trade represents a 32.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 578,355 shares of company stock valued at $142,728,965 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $245.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50-day moving average is $252.28 and its 200 day moving average is $244.09. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $182.39 and a 1 year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.