Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Cuts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC trimmed its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 77,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,944 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $19,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the first 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 last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 65,015 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.80, for a total transaction of $15,850,657.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,388,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,408,775,055.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 478,355 shares of company stock worth $117,922,965 in the last quarter. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.20.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.0 %

ECL stock opened at $246.85 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $252.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $242.48. 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 stock has a market cap of $70.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.62, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $172.79 and a twelve month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.66 EPS for the current year.

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.