Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

by · The Markets Daily

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) by 16.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,735 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $698,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $247.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $70.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $252.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $243.50. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $182.39 and a 12 month high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Free Report) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on ECL

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value 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 represents a 32.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % 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 valued at $117,922,965. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

(Free Report)

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.

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