Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,403,088 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,332 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.50% of Ecolab worth $358,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $390,687,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 27,950.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $188,578,000 after acquiring an additional 735,934 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased 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 worth $188,317,000 after acquiring an additional 591,040 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 580.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 136.0% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 359,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $85,467,000 after purchasing an additional 206,973 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ECL. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, 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 three months, insiders have sold 838,770 shares of company stock valued at $206,273,864. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $245.30 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $251.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $244.29. 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 twelve month low of $186.00 and a twelve month high of $262.61. The stock has a market cap of $69.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.