Fred Alger Management LLC Boosts Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 40,778 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,379 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $10,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Burney Co. purchased a new position in Ecolab during the first quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Ecolab by 262.6% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 57,178 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,202,000 after acquiring an additional 41,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $248.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $188.32 and a 1 year high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.49 billion, a PE ratio of 34.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $251.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $244.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.54 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $276.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $279.87.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 1.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,176,511,348.95. The trade was a 0.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.