Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $21.96 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 117,640 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 891 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $21,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 0.5% during the second quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 11,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,231,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 3.9% during the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 0.9% during the first quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 7,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 3.5% during the first quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspen Grove Capital LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.9% during the first quarter. Aspen Grove Capital LLC now owns 3,981 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $661,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Ecolab from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $207.00 to $187.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $190.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Ecolab from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ecolab from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $194.64.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $184.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $52.75 billion, a PE ratio of 42.92, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day moving average of $170.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.13 and a 52-week high of $191.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.99 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.81% and a net margin of 8.18%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.