UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Has $981.01 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,027 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $981,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. PSI Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total transaction of $25,698,995.82. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 834,959 shares of company stock valued at $205,323,667 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $247.55 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.86 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $251.54 and a 200-day moving average of $244.66.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share 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 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 revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.54 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share 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.