Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Purchases 3,869 Shares of Ecolab Inc. $ECL

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,349 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,869 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $12,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parr Mcknight Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 39,629 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,881,000 after purchasing an additional 12,118 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Ecolab by 11.5% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 5,202 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,428,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the last quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 600.0% in the third quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Associated Banc Corp bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $344,000. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $140,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total transaction of $5,003,860.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares in the company, valued at $20,431,170.48. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research raised shares of Ecolab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.58.

Ecolab Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $315.42 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $243.15 and a 1 year high of $315.58. The company has a market cap of $88.47 billion, a PE ratio of 37.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $283.41 and its 200 day moving average is $276.64.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18. The firm had revenue of $4.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 11.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.07 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning solutions for businesses and institutions. The company helps customers manage water and energy use, maintain sanitary operations, protect food supplies and comply with health and safety standards.

Ecolab serves customers across industries including food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, institutional facilities and energy. Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, water-treatment and process-management systems, pest-control services, kitchen and housekeeping products, infection-prevention programs, and related equipment, training and consulting services.

Founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, the company has expanded from its original focus on cleaning products into a broad range of technology-enabled services and solutions.